The Clearing Perspective of Stacy Chehalis
by TheyCallMeFranklin
Summary: "It's hard having four older brothers. It's even harder when they're wolves." Stacy's known for months her family has been hiding something from her. She just had no idea how big of a secret it was. Or how many people it affected.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1:<strong>

**Anastasia POV**

The sun's rays hit my face and legs, warming me from the outside as the loud crashing of the waves soothes the butterflies in my stomach. It's a rare sunny day in La Push, one that practically begs a person to get out and bask in the warmth. Lying out with my best friend Sierra at First Beach, I intend to do just that.

We have about a week left of glorious summer vacation before we start high school as freshman and though we should probably be nervous, we're rather excited. As "freshmeat," hazing from seniors should be at the forefront of our worries like the rest of our incoming classmates but we're pretty confident no one will mess with us. I have an older brother and he and his friends are what a person would call "popular." My brother Paul Chehalis and his best friends, fellow sophomores Jacob Black, Embry Call, Quil Ateara, and senior Jared Cameron are the best looking guys at La Push High School. Mix great humor, personality, and good looks and the result is those five guys. All the guys want to be friends with them and all the girls want to date them. But my favorite part about them is that they know they're popular and at the very top of every girl's wish list and it doesn't faze them one bit.

Being the kings of high school is usually enough to make any teenager's head grow to an unstable size but not those guys. A person would be extremely hard pressed to find a group of guys who could care less about what others think of them. Whether it's the head cheerleader or the nerd with the wedgie, they treat everyone with kindness and respect and that makes me proud to call them my brothers. Yes, Paul does have a quick temper but it's usually only a big deal with situations that involve me: he's very protective. And it is true that Jacob and Embry are smart-asses, but most know they're only joking. They're just not always bright enough to think before they speak. So pretty much as the sister and the best friend of the sister to the kings of the school, Sierra and I are going to be treated like princesses in that institution.

So unlike most freshmen, the thought of being hazed in high school isn't what has butterflies fluttering around in our stomachs. Sierra's excitement has to do with the potential sightseeing of all the "Hotties with Bodies." In other words, she can't wait to check out Paul and his friends on a more constant basis than she already does. "Hotties with Bodies" is just her secret poetic nickname for them even though it's about as obvious as my black hair in a sea of blondes. I guess the reason for my excitement is pretty much the same as Sierra's though, minus wanting to check out my brother of course. Paul and I are incredibly close and next to Sierra, he's easily my best friend. Him and I can talk about anything and everything and have always been each other's confidant. No, the "hottie" I plan on checking out is none other than Paul's best friend, Quil. Tall, dark, handsome, funny, kind, sweet, strong, considerate … pretty much he's perfection in the form of the ultimate forbidden fruit. But as the younger sister to someone he considers a brother, it goes against all laws of guy friendship for Quil to ever think of me as anything other than a sister.

At least that's what Paul tells me.

I sigh at my patheticness.

"Thinking about Mr. Perfect again are we?" Sierra laughs to my right. Ugh. It's times like these when I hate that she knows me so well. If it were almost anyone else I would be able to pass it off as a sigh of contentment but no, Sierra just has to know me as well as the back of her hand.

"No," I lie automatically. "Actually I was just enjoying the sun and the dwindling days of our summer."

Sierra whips her head to the left and shoots me one of her patented 'you're so full of crap it's unbelievable' stares, raised right eyebrow and all. I quickly change the subject.

"Besides, I'm too busy checking out that gorgeous guy heading our way to even think of Quil." I point down the beach in the direction of the woods.

As if he had called her name, Sierra spins her head in the other direction. I swear that girl is so boy crazy sometimes it makes me dizzy. For the most part her boy obsession works in my favor. This is especially true in situations where I want to distract her. Hence, why I latch on to the first guy I see. But I have to admit that even from a distance it's obvious this guy is very good looking. Wearing only low hanging cutoff shorts, Sierra and I gain a view of his dark sculpted chest and washboard abs — he clearly works out. His arms are long and clearly defined with muscles, his black cropped hair lies matted against his head in an unkempt manner. His walk gives off a vibe of confidence and even though I have all but decided Quil is the only one for me, watching this guy move toward us on the beach is a sight I don't think I could ever get tired of seeing. As if being cloned, suddenly three more guys emerge from the woods behind him and step in with his stride. All are wearing only low hanging cutoff shorts and their dark bodies are as visible and similar as the first. They too head our way, each only differing slightly in their height and walk. Beside me Sierra bursts out in laughter.

"HAHAHA of course you would be busy checking out that guy!" She holds her stomach and rolls from side to side, attempting to reign in her giggles, as her long black hair whirls over her round face in the wind.

I guess a part of me has always known Sierra is a little on the crazy side but it's now official because she never laughs when she spots a hot guy. Usually she's too busy fixing herself up and batting her eyelashes to think of anything funny. Maybe this guy isn't very good looking after all, maybe I need glasses. Or I'm dreaming.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I sit up and turn to stare at my friend.

"Stacy, you're such an idiot!" She continues to roll around on her beach towel, her laughter only decreasing slightly as she tries to regain her speech. "That's Quil!"

I plop back onto my beach towel and puff out an angry blast of air. Well, at least he's not within hearing range.

**Paul POV**

"Hi, you've reached Stacy's phone. Sorry I missed your call but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! Have a nice day!"

On the one hand, I can't help but smile as I hear my baby sister's voice over her voicemail because even through the phone it's evident what a kindhearted person she is. But on the other hand, I couldn't be more furious with her.

How many times must I tell her to keep her phone on and charged at all times? I didn't buy her that phone so it could sit at the bottom of her bag like loose change. Why doesn't she understand that there are things in this world lurking in the dark, just waiting for a chance to grab her? If she needed help, she wouldn't be able to call me with her phone always on low battery. Granted she doesn't know that vampires are real and the chance of her being able to get to her cell phone before one of them grabs her is slim. And there's usually a pack member watching her at all times but still! I only want her to have the best possible chance of receiving help if for some reason I'm not with her.

I can feel the tremors begin in my fists at the mere thought of a disgusting leech even laying eyes on my sweet little sister. Shit! And here I've been doing so well at managing my temper lately. An uncontrollable growl erupts from my chest and even through the red haze I can sense the crunching of the house phone in my right hand. Whatever, we have spares in the kitchen drawer for a reason.

The sun hits my already too-warm skin as I burst through the back door, preparing to phase when I reach the seclusion of the woods to see if any of my pack brothers have seen her around the reservation. Knowing her, she's with her best friend Sierra at the beach. Overall, I really like that girl. She's funny as hell, doesn't take crap from anybody and unlike most 15-year-old girls I know, she's happy with being a little on the chunky side. She's always been a great friend and influence to Anastasia and I don't think I could have chosen a better friend for her if I'd tried. The only thing that irks me about Sierra though is her "love" for me. While I'm flattered she finds me attractive, it's the little comments I'm not supposed to hear that get to me.

As a result of being a wolf, my pack brothers and I not only have super strength but also super hearing. Now not only do I get to hear how Anastasia is turning guys down for dates (something I'm extremely happy about), but also how Sierra wants to take a can of whipped cream and a bottle of chocolate sauce to my body. Another "gift" of being a wolf is that all the members of the pack are joined in one mind when in our wolf form and can hear each other's thoughts. As a result of this invasion into my mind's privacy, my pack brothers now call me "Sweets."

Great, now I'm trembling for an entirely different reason.

Upon reaching the seclusion of the woods I take off my shorts, tie them to my leg and take on a form more liberating than anything I've ever experienced. The freedom, the speed, the strength and the close family ties of my pack are indescribable. While the telepathy thing can get annoying at times, it has also helped to bond us together as a family and keep us stronger as one. The first time I phased, I thought someone had spiked my water bottle and I was on a freaky drug trip. It wasn't until I heard Sam and Jared's voices in my head, telling me what I was and who I must now be, that I realized something bigger than a spiked drink was going on.

I join Embry, Jake and Quil in one mind upon phasing into my wolf form and it's like I'm looking through their eyes. From their hiding spot amongst the trees I can see my little sister sprawled out on her back on a bright blue beach towel. Wearing a sunset colored bikini, her black hair flows out behind her and my favorite smile is on her face as she talks animatedly to Sierra. Wait, a BIKINI? My God, does she want me to kill every male on the reservation? First on my list are my pack brothers who are ogling her like a slab of steak.

Too bad shaking as a wolf can't turn me into an even bigger wolf.

Furious, I hastily make my way to their spot. I know they can hear my growls, see the trees whip by in a blur of greens and browns and watch as I picture the myriad of ways I plan on murdering each and every one of them. But in true jackass style they continue with their internal conversation as if I can't hear them.

_'Man, Stacy is like a fine wine, she only gets better with age.'_ Jake. I've always known he was a dumbass, I just didn't know he was suicidal too. Well if anyone is going to deliver him his demise, it'll be me handing it to him on a silver platter.

_'Just keep thinking like that asshole,' _I shout back through my mind. My feet pound against the forest floor, making large imprints in my wake._ 'I'm coming.'_

_'HAHAHA yeah I would be too if you'd stop cock blocking me!'_ Embry. I should have known that son of a bitch would spew out something as vile as that. _'I'm willing to spew out more than just words Sweets, just give me one night. Whoops, looks like Quil's already there in his mind.'_

Their obnoxious banter and laughter cut off abruptly as they morph back into their human forms. No doubt they're on their way to mess with my sister and my nerves. Dicks. No matter, I'm on my way and when I arrive, they will be sorry.

I push myself faster and burst through the trees just in time to see Jake and Embry flee to the beach after Quil's retreating back. I phase quickly, throw my shorts on my bare body, and run after them in one swift motion. I catch up to all three of them just as they hit the sand.

"I should kill all you little bastards right now you know that? If it wasn't for Sam's Alpha command you would all be fur coats right now!" I shout at a volume that won't carry to Anastasia. Sure she's seen me angry before but I'm one stupid comment away from phasing and I don't want her to notice us if possible — she doesn't know what we are. "Quil, how dare you think of getting with my sister? I've already warned you once, you don't get another one."

At least Quil has the decency to hang his head and appear apologetic of his actions. A damn shame I won't be so lucky with the other two.

"And Embry I swear if you make jizz comments in reference to my sister again your monkey spanking days will be over. PERMANENTLY!" I poke him hard in the chest to highlight the anger of my words. "As for you Jake, well what you said just further proves you have no game."

"Aww come on Sweets, chill the shit out would you?" Embry laughs, shaking his head. He's clearly not affected by my anger. "You know we love you sister. We're just messing with you, having a little fun, raising your blood pressure a little. You know it's our favorite hobby next to leech hunting."

"Besides, you know anything we say is meant to be taken as a joke," Jake says, clapping me on the back as if to show his words mean no harm. "If you can't handle us when we make dirty jokes about your sister, especially since you know they're meant to be taken in stride, then how are you going to handle it when she starts high school with us next week and the guys actually mean it when they say things about Stacy? She may not realize it, but your sister has become a guy magnet! They're going to flock to her like leeches to a blood bank next week Sweets."

Damn, Jake has a point and from the grin gracing his poop-colored face, he knows he has me. In all honesty, I really don't know what I'm going to do about her starting high school with us.

As Anastasia has gotten older, she's only gotten prettier and more of a worry spot for me. With a slender 5'3" frame, long jet black hair that reaches to the middle of her back and hazel eyes, she's become a guy magnet much to my displeasure. She's one of the sweetest girls a person will ever meet but she also has a quick wit about her, something that keeps even us guys on our toes. I like to think she got that from me and I couldn't be more proud. But much to my shot nerves, she's also a little naive when it comes to guys and doesn't notice when some sleaze ball is blatantly hitting on her. At least not until I beat his ass that is, then she and whatever slime is trying to pick her up get the message.

I think her inability to distinguish a douche bag from a good guy is partially our fault.

The only guys Anastasia has spent a lot of time around without an adult present are my childhood best friends and other male family members. Her whole life she's been surrounded by guys that would hurt themselves before her so I worry that she has a somewhat warped vision of what some guys are really like. I think in her mind, all guys are really nice and wouldn't say or do anything to get in her pants. I guess it's my fault she doesn't have any real experience being around guys. I'm a little protective and because Quil, Jake, Embry and our other best friend Jared Cameron are like my brothers, they look out for her as if she was their own little sister. I don't know any guy who would be willing to go up against five big, strong and intimidating brothers to get to a girl. It's not like I don't want her to date and be happy — because I totally do — but she's too sweet and cute for her own good. It's going to take a really special guy to get my approval. Of course all this means is that I will have to reach the highest level of self control I will probably ever have to master in my life in order to refrain from ripping out the eyes of every guy in school.

In other words, I'm totally screwed next week.

At the moment the only thing stopping me from snapping Quil into tiny pieces for his mental images earlier is the loud laughter coming from Sierra a little ways down the beach from us. For as far away as we are, we shouldn't be able to hear their conversation but thanks again to our advanced hearing, we pick up on it very clearly. From the first sentence my stomach twists into knots: they're talking about boys.

"HAHAHA of course you would be busy checking out that guy!" Sierra laughs, holding her middle as she rolls from side to side, causing her longer bathing suit top to ride up.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anastasia immediately sits up, confusion written all over her face. She turns to stare at her friend, causing her chest to move in her bikini top. The guys snicker and high five each other at the show. I mentally hang my head in fatigue; already tired from the mental bashing I'm sure to receive tonight during patrol.

"Stacy, you're such an idiot!" Sierra continues to roll around on her beach towel, her chubby body wiggling slightly with her laughter. "That's Quil!"

Anastasia plops back on her beach towel (more movement, more snickering), and huffs out an angry blast of air. I close my eyes in frustration as their conversation processes in my mind: she was checking out Quil. Again.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** A few things I forgot to mention in my haste to upload the first chapter: Quil has not imprinted; Quil, Jacob and Embry became wolves between the few weeks following spring break of their freshman year and the first few weeks of summer vacation; the order of phasing remains the same; and Seth is 14 instead of 13.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

Of course the guy I try to use as a distraction from a Quil conversation turns out to be Quil himself. And naturally the other three guys accompanying him would just have to be Paul, Jake and Embry because a 'make fun of Stacy for her crush on Quil' party just wouldn't be the same without those three tagging along. There's Paul, the overly protective and overly dramatic older brother who can't take a joke when it comes to me; Jake, the smart ass who only gets by without getting his face bashed in because of his size and adorable smile; and Embry, the pervert who uses any opportunity to make a dirty joke about me just to rile up Paul. He once told me that his favorite part about getting my brother angry is the shaking but he wouldn't explain any more than that.

Apparently he likes to "see Paul's animal side" — whatever that means.

Paul has been a friend to those three guys all his life and since they were toddlers, Embry has made it his mission in life to get Paul angry at least once a day. And ever since they were toddlers, Embry has been successful in his mission. It used to be that when Paul got angry he would just shove him into a wall or punch him in the shoulder but he suddenly developed a new trait last school year about two weeks after spring break ended: strange, unexplainable shaking.

I remember the clouds were black that day and the rain was pouring out harder than usual; a total cliché for a bad day. I had come home from school crying because Tyler Cowlitz had pushed me against the wall for telling him off after he shoved a seventh grader into a locker. Normally that wouldn't have caused such a dramatic reaction out of me but I had never been pushed by a guy like that before. Guys who would rather pull their own teeth out than harm a single hair on my head have surrounded me my entire life. So naturally, Tyler pushing me so roughly scared the heck out of me. When I got home that day Paul was already waiting on the couch in the living room, almost as if he knew something had happened at school. I remember my parents were in the kitchen cooking dinner together and as I started to tell Paul about Tyler pushing me, the couch began to shake violently. At first I thought we were having an earthquake but when Paul's form began to blur as well, I knew something was wrong. His eyes turned blacker than the clouds outside and the look on his face told me my Paul wasn't with me at the moment. I was stunned, unable to do anything but stare at him in open-mouthed horror.

Suddenly a strange tearing could be heard coming from somewhere inside him and that's when my screams and his growls (which is really the only way to describe the sounds coming from his throat), mingled in the air as I yelled for my parents. Then, for reasons I still don't understand even months later, Sam Uley and Jared came bursting through the backdoor, almost as if they had been waiting in our backyard the entire time. In spite of all the chaos and confusion I remember thinking how strange it was that they were wearing nothing but a pair of sweats considering the storm raging outside. I also couldn't help but get the feeling that what was happening was a situation they'd been witness to before because they rushed in, took one look at the commotion in my living room and sprang into action like they knew exactly what was going on and what to do. Jared locked Dad in the garage and Sam steered Mom and me to my room on the second floor, telling us to stay put until he came to get us. From my bedroom I could hear shouting in the living room downstairs, Sam and Jared trying to get Paul to leave the house through the back leading to the woods where they promised that "everything will make sense." I screamed for Paul, running to the door to get to him but my mom only held me back.

I cried for my brother that night and for the few nights after.

The next day at school Tyler told anyone that would listen of the giant, dark silver wolf that growled and scratched at his window during the night. He blamed me for it for some reason, kept trying to tell everybody in school that I had put a curse on him or something. The entire school, including the teachers, was bored with him by lunch.

Three days later Paul came home with Jacob's dad Billy Black, Quil's grandfather, Quil Ateara Sr., and Sam, and it was as if nothing had happened. He walked in the door with them in tow, gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead, and together with our parents went into Mom and Dad's room and closed the door. They talked for four hours straight, only pausing when Sam would come out of the room to gather food every hour or so. I tried to listen but each time I approached the hallway leading to the room Paul would yell out at me to go back to the kitchen to finish my homework. From that day on everyone in my family acted as if Paul's strange anger fit days previously hadn't happened. Everything went back to normal but really, nothing was normal and I began to worry.

Up until a few weeks into summer vacation, Paul had all but stopped hanging out with Jake, Embry and Quil; the three guys he has been inseparable from since he was a toddler. Then one by one, they began to reappear by his side: Embry first, then Jake and finally Quil. The appetites on them changed drastically and seemed to grow as they did. None of them had ever had small appetites by any means, but all of a sudden they couldn't go more than two hours without eating. And I don't mean a simple snack. For them, eating an extra large pizza was like eating a Twinkie: easy and down in one bite. But it was more than just their appetites that plagued me. After his strange fit, I noticed Paul would leave the house randomly at strange times of the night and not come home until five or six in the morning. Even stranger was how my very strict parents seemed to not care. He would leave late and they wouldn't stir in their room. He'd come home at six in the morning and Mom would have breakfast made for an army waiting on the table, no questions asked. He felt like he constantly had a fever and I would find his clothes randomly shredded, almost as if they'd been ripped to pieces by wild animals. What's more is that Paul's scent changed. In fact, all of their scents changed. I know it sounds strange but prior to Paul's odd, angry fit, he and his friends always smelled slightly salty, like the ocean. After, it changed to something woodsier with a pine tree after smell. It was as if all four of them had been living in the woods their entire lives and had just decided to emerge into civilization for the first time.

I had a million questions running through my mind and each time I begged Paul for an answer he would reply with the same rehearsed line: "It's a guy thing Anastasia, don't worry about it." He never got angry that I asked him so much but if I pestered too many times in one day I noticed the shaking would start up again. It always began first in his fists and would slowly creep to the rest of his body before he would leave abruptly. Eventually my parents snapped, telling me "enough was enough" and that if it were my business then I would know. Admittedly, that hurt a little bit. Paul had always been my business and vice versa. We had never kept secrets from each other and he had never denied me anything. I couldn't — and still don't — understand why he would start hiding things from me now.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the two loveliest ladies in La Push," Embry begins as they approach our towel. He winks at me and shoots a glance toward Paul, letting me know his banter is just beginning. Out of the corner of my eye I see Sierra glare daggers at Embry. She knows how shy and awkward I get sometimes when he starts with his sex jokes and she's usually pretty good at heading him off before he can really get into it.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Paul, the only good looking guy in La Push," Sierra says, unabashedly looking Paul up and down. As funny as I find Sierra's crush on my brother to be, it's when she openly checks him out that I get a little creeped out. But nothing stops Embry's sexual banter like a blow to his ego so I'm willing to ignore Sierra's shuddersome comments this time.

"Aww lookie here Sweets, Sierra wants a little taste of your sticky sauce," Jake quips, nudging Paul in the side with his elbow. Embry laughs loudly and high-fives Jake for his crudeness, earning each of them a smack on the back of the head from Paul. I've never understood why they call Paul 'Sweets' but I am observant enough to notice that each time they do, Paul turns red, an accomplishment considering his dark complexion.

Embry, Jake and Quil make themselves comfortable on our beach towel, digging into the picnic basket as if they had made it. Paul, meanwhile, stares at me and I can tell I'm in some sort of trouble. All my life Paul has been regarded as an extra authority figure when it comes to me and the strange anger fit a few months ago did nothing but increase that authority. If I want to go somewhere or do something but he doesn't think it's a good idea, then my parents usually agree and the answer is no. I once wasn't allowed to go to a friend's sleepover because Paul didn't like her older brother. I had to spend the entire next day at lunch trying to convince this girl that I couldn't go over because I had plans with my mom. For the most part, though, he's pretty good about not taking things too far but I can already tell from the pissed off look on his face that this talk is easily going to fall under the "over dramatic" category.

"All right Paul, spit it out," I sigh, rolling my eyes as I picture the tantrum he's sure to throw for God-knows-what. He's still staring at me, clearly not amused at my childish antics. Well, if it's a staring contest he desires, then it's a staring contest he shall receive. "I can tell I'm in trouble so why don't you just get on with why so I can smile my way out of it."

"Oh no, you're not going to be able to get out of this one." Paul crosses his arms for dramatic effect and keeps up the glaring, waiting for me to figure out why he's mad this time. Thinking back, I can't recall doing anything wrong. I told Mom and Dad where I was, that's usually enough for Paul. Hmm, maybe I should have called … called … SHIT! My phone died right after I had hung up with Mom. Paul must have tried calling my cell phone only to get my voicemail. So that's why he's so mad. That also explains why the rest of the guys are here as well: Paul must have called them freaking out because he couldn't find me. I'm assuming the only reason Jared isn't here as well is because he's too wrapped up with his girlfriend Kim Connweller, also a senior at La Push High School.

"Oh my goodness I am so, so sorry about my phone! I forgot to charge it last night before I went to bed and then I didn't have time to do it today before I had to meet up with Sierra," I rush out before he can get started. "I told Mom and Dad where I was and I just figured that if anyone really needed to get a hold of me they would just call Sierra's phone. Forgive me?" I finish with the sad pout I know he can't refuse.

"Yes of course I forgive you but damn it Anastasia, you need to be more responsible. You're not a child anymore so stop making decisions like one." Ooh, he is really pissed. But that 'child' comment is not acceptable. So I forgot to charge my phone, big whoop. Shit happens.

"You know what?" I glower at him, narrowing my eyes into virtual slits. I may not have a quick fuse like Mom and Paul but when I get angry, it's still pretty dangerous. I think I get my fearful fury from years of living with Paul's anger and I'm pretty proud of it. The others look away from our fight, knowing it's in their best interest to not interfere. "You're mad, fine. But don't you dare treat me like a child. I said I was sorry and I am but don't act like I committed some horrible crime. It was an accident, they happen. And what the hell do you think is going to happen to me at the beach? What, do you think I'm going to be eaten by one of those wolves that's been spotted in the woods? Chill out Paul before you really piss me off and ruin my beach day."

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

Oh Anastasia, if you only knew what I work so hard to protect you from.

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><p><strong>Quil POV<strong>

I've known Paul all my life and in all the years he's had an anger problem (which admittedly has been his whole life), Stacy has always been the only person allowed to tell him off without repercussions, except for his parents of course. Even though Paul is only a year older than Stacy, she's had him wrapped around her tiny finger since the day she was born. When we were toddlers she would scream for his pudding cup and he would hand it over without a moment's hesitation. By age six, he was the most frequent guest at her tea parties other than her stuffed silver wolf, ironically named Paul. When she was eight she wanted to go to her first sleepover at Sierra's house but her parents said no so she ran to Paul in tears. He lobbied on her behalf for more than three hours until they got so sick of listening to his voice that they changed their minds. Then last year when Stacy decided she had to have a cell phone because all her friends had one, Paul went out and got a part-time job so he could buy her the phone she wanted as a surprise birthday gift.

If it wasn't for the fact that Stacy is probably one of the sweetest girls I've ever met, I'd probably be disgusted with how whipped he is. But if I'm being perfectly honest, the rest of us are just as protective and fold just as easily to her will. Apart from Jared and Sam, we've all known Stacy our entire lives and truly consider her the younger sister none of us have.

But sitting next to her on a beach towel, me in only a pair of cut-off shorts and her in a tiny bikini, I find brotherly feelings are a little hard to come by at the moment. It's true that as Stacy has gotten older she's gotten prettier and it certainly doesn't help our case against Sweets when we unwillingly share our thoughts with him in wolf form. She's had a crush on me since about the time she turned 13 and I'm afraid those feelings have only increased since then. When Paul first found out she liked me he nearly popped a blood vessel. That was the one and only time I seriously thought he was going to try to fight me. In Paul's mind, when it comes to Stacy, there's no such thing as overreaction. I'm attracted to her, certainly, but my own personal safety aside, I don't think I could ever manage to conjure up actual feelings for her. Not only would I not want to mess up the relationship I have with Paul and the rest of the Chehalis family, but it's well known that little Seth Clearwater has it pretty bad for our dear Stacy and I wouldn't want to get in the way of that.

"Fine," Paul growls after being scolded by Stacy. "But could you please try to be more … careful from now on? For me?" He finishes in a tone so gentle he knows she'll have no choice but to cave.

"Yes I'll be more careful. I'm sorry Paul." I can't help but laugh at the two of them. For as much crap as we give Paul about caving so easily, we seem to forget that Stacy folds just as easily and just as often.

"Well, now that the family feud is over, can we please change the channel?" Oh Embry, that ass sure does know how to ruin a good family moment. He claps his giant, brown hands together and gets a sudden glimmer in his eye, smirking an evil smile in my direction. He hasn't even said anything yet and already I don't like where this is going. "Hey I have an idea. Quil, why don't you put some of your whipped cream on Stacy's strawberry?" I swear he sits up at night just thinking of different ways to get me killed. It's like he has a lifelong dream to see Paul murder me and he's willing to do anything in his power to see it fulfilled.

"Oh did you bring whipped cream? I didn't even think of that!" Stacy exclaims in surprise as she finishes another strawberry from her picnic basket. Is she serious? It's Embry for crying out loud! That alone should tip her off that he's making some sort of perverted joke at her expense. Maybe they're secretly conspiring together to get me violently killed.

"Oh yeah!" Oh God, his tone was way too enthusiastic, this can only get worse. "He carries it around with him in this itty-bitty bottle but Paul never lets him share it with you." Jake bites his fist in an attempt to stop his laughter as Sierra hides behind his back. Next to me, Paul clutches onto a towel as if his life depends on it and a discernible tearing can be heard over the crashing of the waves. The girls seem oblivious to the murder written in Paul's eyes or the fear even I can tell is shining in mine.

"What? That's crap! I demand you give me some whipped cream for my strawberry right now!" Stacy demands, her left hand outstretched, waiting for a bottle entirely different from what Embry is really describing. "Oh, even better — spray it in my mouth!"

"Oh my God Stacy, shut up!" Sierra blurts out over her laughter.

"ENOUGH!" Paul roars.

A loud tear comes from where Paul is sitting and it's obvious the towel has lost the fight. The blurring of Paul's body begins and it's clear to Jake, Embry and me that he's mere seconds from phasing, something he would never forgive himself for if he did in front of Stacy. I look to Embry, telling him with my eyes to head to the woods, knowing Paul is so pissed off at him that he will follow. The growling begins and the girls stumble up from their sitting position, mouths agape, staring at Paul with wide eyes. Embry takes one last glance at Paul and sprints off for the seclusion of the trees, Paul follows. As soon as both of their bodies are hidden, a loud howl is heard and birds fly up from their perches on the trees.

"Well ladies, it's been fun." Jake jumps into our farewell before the girls can form questions demanding to know what just happened. He stands, claps his huge hands together and plasters a fake smile on his face, acting as if we're simply going for a walk on the beach and not preparing to rip two snapping and snarling wolves off each other. I jump up too, following in the charade. "Thanks for the snacks. Enjoy the rest of your beach day."

We jokingly bow and hastily make our exit in search of Paul and Embry who are sure to be tearing each other apart deep in the forest.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Thanks for reading and reviewing!

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

"Alright Stacy, be honest with me. How fantastic do I look?" Sierra twirls for me in her living room, showing me her first day of school outfit from every angle. Her dark plaid miniskirt twirls around her body, making her look like a little girl in her birthday dress. The black t-shirt layered over a dark blue tank top blends in with her black hair, flowing down her back and in curls.

"You, my dear, look great. But we better get going, Paul's waiting outside and he'll throw a hissy fit if we make him sit out there too long." As if on cue, a loud angry horn blasts from the truck outside.

"Geez, doesn't your brother know that looking this good takes time?" she huffs out, grabbing her backpack off the couch. I can't help but laugh out loud as I follow her to the front door and into the cool morning air. "Wait a minute. I thought we were supposed to be wearing matching miniskirts today? Why are you wearing that? What the hell happened?"

"What do you think happened? Paul happened. He took one look at my miniskirt this morning and yelled at me to go change. When I said no, he called Dad who then ordered me to change. I'm so mad. Paul's such a brat sometimes." The events of this morning put me in a bad mood and recounting them to my best friend is doing nothing to dispel me from my displeasure. I decide to change the subject slightly as we near Paul. "Besides, if I didn't know any better I'd think you didn't like my outfit."

"Actually I love it," Sierra compliments as she scoots to the middle of the bench seat in the front of Paul's truck. "Those flat boots with the black skinny jeans and plaid green button up show off your butt and boobs nicely," she quips, shooting a glance to Paul to see his reaction. Without fail his knuckles turn white as he grips the steering wheel tightly. Good, it serves him right for calling Dad and making me change this morning.

"Oh thanks, that's exactly what I was going for," I shoot back at her. Over the radio a low crack can be heard coming from the steering wheel. Gosh, is Paul ever going to learn to take a joke?

We pull into the school parking lot and immediately Sierra looks like an owl, her head almost spinning completely around in order to check out every guy within sight. Paul glides smoothly into an open spot next to Jake's faded red Volkswagen Rabbit. We hop out and join Jake, Embry and Quil sitting on the hood of the Rabbit looking more like 25-year-old dark male models than 16-year-old high school sophomores.

"Well good morning ladies," Embry pipes up the moment we hop out of the truck. "Stacy, I heard about the miniskirt incident this morning. If it makes you feel any better I'm sure the miniskirt looks just as good on a bedroom floor as it does on you." He finishes with a smile while Quil hangs his head, failing to hide his chuckles. Jake's large body shakes with amusement and Sierra covers her round face with her notebook.

"Dude, it's too fucking early for that shit!" Paul punches Embry hard in the shoulder, causing him to wince.

"Alright, sorry man, calm down," Embry says, rubbing his left shoulder. "I'm sure it looks better on her than the floor but whatever."

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><p><strong>Jake POV<strong>

It's barely the beginning of first period on the first day of school and already Paul is freaking out. Although now that I think about it, Embry's miniskirt joke this morning probably wasn't the best way to start the day — even if it was funny as hell. Well, at least he didn't almost phase like he did last week with the whipped cream joke.

From the moment Paul, Stacy and Sierra got out of the truck this morning, it was clear that Stacy was going to be gaining more attention than any of us anticipated. Immediately guys noticed her and they started whispering, trying to figure out if she was a new student or an incoming freshman. Thankfully Paul was too preoccupied with Embry's little joke to notice the way the guys in the parking lot watched her every move, biding their time until they'd get a chance to talk to her. As she and Sierra walked away from us in the parking lot, guys watched her hips sway with each step, following her like a tennis match: left, right, left, right. Poor Sweets almost had a heart attack when she dropped her notebook and bent down to pick it up, giving everyone in front of her a clear view of her chest and everyone behind her a glimpse of her ass. Some even started to approach her until Paul yelled at them to "back the fuck off" before he beat their faces in. Normally the rest of us would have laughed at Paul's ridiculous overreaction, but this time, even we weren't very pleased with the way guys rubbernecked her.

Sitting next to me, slowly banging his head against his desk, it's evident Sweets has a very tough year ahead of him.

"Dude, I said I was sorry about the joke," Embry whines for the hundredth time on the other side of Paul. "Quit moping about it already."

"I'm not moping about the joke. Well, yeah I mean you need to keep your mouth shut but did you see the way those guys were looking at her in the parking lot this morning?" Paul lifts his head from his desk and resorts to gripping the edges tightly. "It's like they'd never seen a girl before!"

"I swear I'm going to bust some skulls if I see one of those guys checking out her ass again!" Even Embry isn't too pleased about all the attention Stacy seems to be attracting; which is ironic considering about eighty percent of his jokes are some crude remark about her body.

"Yeah it looks like we're going to have to watch out for her a lot more than we initially thought." I'm not sure why but Quil being protective of Stacy has always cracked me up. Maybe it's because of her crush on him or because he's usually so damn quiet. "Did you see the way Sean Cowley was looking at her? I think he's found his first target for the year," Quil sighs, leaning back in his desk chair and causing it to groan under his weight.

"Yeah, well, he's also a senior this year and as soon as he finds out Stacy is Paul's sister, he's going to be pulling out all the stops to get her into bed," Embry points out.

Damn, I hadn't even thought of that and from the murderous look in Paul's eyes, neither did he. Sean Cowley is known for being the biggest man-whore in all of La Push High School. Every year on the first day of school he finds girls he wants to make his own so he can use them like a toy. He charms them, takes them on a few dates, sleeps with them and then drops them like a bad habit. After he's finished with a girl, he spends weeks bragging to all of his buddies about his conquest, making snide comments as she passes by, laughing at her retreating back in the hallways. Naturally she's left feeling embarrassed and extremely upset, dodging the sneers from girls who would fall into the same trap weeks later. Since he's a senior this year he'll probably want to make it extra worthwhile with a video camera and YouTube. I guess it's just our luck he would notice Stacy.

"I swear I'll rip his fucking face off if he even thinks of talking to her!" Paul growls, breaking small chunks off his desk with his bare fingers.

Sean has had it out for Sweets since last year when one of the girls wised up and ditched him for a shot at Paul. As a way to heal his bruised ego, Sean thought it would be a good idea to try to pick a fight with Sweets a few weeks into summer vacation. Even though he had no clue he was attempting to take on a werewolf, it was still highly stupid of him to think he could fight a guy twice his size and who hangs out with four other guys equally as big. The sight of stupid ass Cowley curled up on the ground in the fetal position, crying, with his arms wrapped around his broken ribs still brings a smile to my face. To make him even more pathetic, the sore loser still tries to act like he didn't cry when Paul punched him in the face. He claims Sweets cheated by throwing sand in his eyes. What a dick.

"Listen Sweets, we'll deal with the Cowley situation if he attempts anything alright? Until then, there's no point in shitting a brick over it." Our whole goal for today was to ease Paul into high school with his sister but seeing him grind little pieces of his desk together in a closed fist, I'm starting to think we're doing a pretty crappy job. "And would you please stop tearing the desk apart?" I continue in a volume only loud enough for Sweets, Embry and Quil to hear. "People are going to start to notice and in case you forgot, normal humans can't do that. Especially not without being on drugs or seriously injuring themselves."

He loosens his grip and resorts back to his normal posture: arms crossed, glaring at everyone. "Aaah, now there's the Sweets we know and love," Embry teases, effectively lightening the mood.

"Mr. Chehalis! Glad to see you haven't lost that sour mood I love so much. I'm looking forward to that scowl all trimester," the teacher says brightly as she walks into the room. The class laughs at her remarks to Paul. "Now, the rest of you: plaster a fake smile on those tanned faces and welcome to English 10."

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

Lunch has barely started and I've already had to stop myself from phasing four times. Or rather, Jake, Embry, Quil or Jared had been around to drag me away from some jackass four times. Things got especially close between second and third period when one of Cowley's stupid buddies tried to grab Anastasia's ass as she walked by. If it hadn't been for Kim's screams to Jared, I would have done a lot more damage than a black eye and a few bruises. I fully intended on bashing his skull in and I know Embry agreed with me. I've been mentally preparing myself for this specific day for the past few weeks, getting ready for the inevitable shaking, growling and the perverts checking out my sister's body. But I don't think any of the calming methods Sam and I worked on prepared me enough. I knew from the moment Anastasia stepped out of her room in that ridiculous miniskirt this morning that today was going to be especially hard. I guess I just never thought anybody would get ballsy enough to grab her like that. Well, if people didn't know Anastasia is my sister before, they sure as shit have a hunch now.

"Hey Sweets, how you holding up buddy?" Jared asks, pulling out a chair across from me for his imprint, Kim, before setting down their lunch trays.

One of the negatives (or bonuses, depending on which way it's looked at), of being a wolf is imprinting, a time when a wolf finds his other half, his reason for living and the strength he needs to fight leeches. For the first few weeks after we change we're told that all the stories we believed were just legends meant to lull children to sleep at night, are real. But the stories about imprinting all say it's rare and yet here our pack is with two imprints.

Our alpha, Sam Uley, met his imprint Emily Young when she came to visit her cousin and his then-girlfriend, Leah Clearwater. As for Jared, well he's been almost inseparable from Kim since the moment he turned around in his desk last year to borrow a pencil. Imprinting happens the first time after we phase and see that one special person who changes our lives forever. From what Sam and Jared say, the moment they laid eyes on Emily and Kim they felt a tugging in the center of their stomachs, forever connecting them. As Quileute warriors, our sole reason for phasing into wolves is to protect our loved ones from blood sucking vampires. But after one imprints, their whole center shifts and the only thing binding them to this earth becomes their imprint. The drive to protect our loved ones is still in us, but after we discover our other half, we find a more powerful surge to patrol and hunt because we know that if anything were to ever happen to our imprint, we would cease to exist and any will to fight we may have had will die.

But from the outside it's pretty sickening to watch one of the guys look at his imprint and vice versa. Their breathless "hellos," the way they get lost in their own personal world, and the dreamy, glazed-over look that gets in their eyes upon sight of each other is enough to make any single person gag.

Emily and Kim are Sam and Jared's entire world and, honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that type of thing. Right now, my sister is my entire world and I can't imagine putting anyone above her.

"Shitty," I respond while angrily stabbing my cafeteria mashed potatoes with a fork. "It's like all the guys in this school are a bunch of damn animals!" I look over to the door leading into the hallway and can't help the low growl that erupts from my chest.

"Hahaha nope, there's only five animals at this school," Kim jokes.

Normally I'm all laughs about a comment on how we're animals but I'm just not in the mood right now. Not when I have to sit in this damn school and watch as these little bastards blatantly check out my sister; I just feel like Kim is comparing me to them. Jared looks at Kim as if she just said the greatest thing in the world; her eyes glaze over as he kisses her on the temple. I bite back a snarl purely for Jared's sake.

"Good one Kim," I say a little too bitingly for Jared's taste. He gives me a death glare for being so rude to Kim. I change the subject. "Man I knew today was going to be hard but I didn't think it was going to be this hard! I don't know how I'm going to make it through the rest of the day, let alone the rest of high school. If it hadn't been for you last period, I'm pretty sure we would have ripped his arms off."

"Yeah, man that was definitely a little too close," Jared agrees between bites of his sandwich. "Oh and I heard Sean Cowley has his eyes set on Stacy. Do you know if he's tried anything yet? Cuz once he finds what he wants, he tends to work pretty fast."

"Actually you'll all be pleased to know that I just saw him trying to chat her up at her locker and she shoved right past him," Embry pipes up as him, Jake and Quil pull up seats around the table, leaving spots for Anastasia and Sierra to sit between us. I can't help the sigh of relief that blows from my mouth.

"Well that's good news," Jared nods his head, taking a drink of his soda. "I mean, the fact that she's denying him will only spur him on more but at least that'll give us more chances to break some bones," he laughs, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. The rest of us chuckle in agreement.

"Don't you dare do anything that will get you guys suspended from school!" Kim looks at us with a shocked look on her face. "If you guys get kicked out then who will look after her? It's not like I'd be able to really do anything if some guy tried anything with her. I'd probably just end up getting harassed too."

"Like hell you will! I'll kill anyone that tries to touch you." Even though Kim is only talking hypothetically, Jared can't help his anger and he roughly pulls her chair closer to his side as if to prove a point. His imprint is absolutely everything to him and he wants no one to ever touch her. She kisses his cheek, effectively calming him down.

"What I mean is that you guys miss enough school as it is with your nightly patrols," Kim continues. "And if you keep getting into fights, Sam will skin you all alive. You know he's already going to flip when he finds out about that little scuffle last period."

Kim has a point — about everything. Damn her logic!

In order to protect our people we run patrols almost 24 hours a day around the reservation, always on the lookout for vampires or anything else that could possibly endanger the people we love. We run for hours, switching patrol duty late at night and not finishing sometimes until five or six in the morning. As a result, we're often extremely tired and find it so hard to focus in school that we end up skipping. Sam offered to work the majority of the patrols during the school year but we all felt a little guilty putting even more stress and worry on our alpha's shoulders. The elders also offered to talk to the school administrators about our "situation" but, as a pack, we decided we wanted to keep our secret confined to as small a group as possible. In the end, it was settled that only immediate family members, council members and imprints would be let in on our secret world. Other than Embry's mom, Anastasia is the only immediate family member who doesn't know what we are and that's only at my discretion. As for the fighting, well, Sam has all but Alpha-commanded us to keep our tempers in check unless it is leech related. Mix in the annoying pack telepathy with the gossip mill on the reservation and it's almost impossible to hide secrets. There's no way we'll be able to keep last period's fight covered up.

Man, I am in so much shit when this gets back to him.

"Why would Sam Uley care what you do?" Anastasia asks as she and Sierra join our table, sitting between Jake and me. "And what was with you guys attacking that kid last period? It's like you all came out of nowhere!"

I decide to ignore her first question, hoping she'll drop it if I don't respond. "He was attempting to do something very inappropriate."

"Hahaha yeah. He wanted to grab them goodies!" Embry laughs loudly, slapping his knee at his own amusement. "Oh, is it still too early for those jokes?" He stops abruptly and looks around, noticing that no one else joined him.

"It's always too early for those jokes you jackass," I growl out. Anastasia reaches across the table and slaps Embry upside the head. I don't bother to hide my smile.

"Okay seriously Paul, Embry has been making dirty jokes about me since I hit puberty and knowing him, he's not going to stop anytime soon. So please just chill out." She pats me on the arm for good measure. "As for you Embry, I realize your pervy jokes are all a part of your charm, but could you please refrain from forcing my brother to rupture a blood vessel?"

She stares resolutely at Embry who, I'm pleased to see, looks down at the table and nods his head. For as much crap as they give me about folding so easily to my sister, it seems as though they forget they're exactly the same. At least I have the balls to admit I crumble like day old cheese.

"So, how has everyone's first day of school been so far?" Anastasia asks cheerfully, looking around the table.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** Thanks for reading and reviewing!

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

It's been three weeks since the first day of school and Sean Cowley still doesn't get that I want absolutely nothing to do with him.

Every day since school started, I've come out of my third period science class to find him casually leaning against my locker. From the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew who he was and I knew I wanted nothing to do with him. How he could even think I'd want to talk to him after he tried to fight my brother last summer is completely beyond me. Paul and the rest of his friends had already warned me about Sean and his disgusting, manipulative ways and I was placed under strict orders to never go near him. As if I need a reason to stay away from him. He tried to pick a fight with my brother, I want nothing to do with him.

At first I thought maybe he didn't know who I was but after I told him that "my brother, Paul Chehalis, will break you if he finds you talking to me," and he still didn't move, well then it was just clear that he had a death wish. But no matter what I say, no matter how mean I am to him, anything I do only seems to spur him on. I don't know what it is about me that has him so interested but I have a hunch that for him, getting with me would be the ultimate revenge against Paul for beating him up over the summer. Too bad the joke's on him because there's no way in hell I would ever let him touch me.

So needless to say, walking out of class today, I'm not surprised to see him. More revolted and exasperated if anything. While his long muscles, lazy smile and light brown eyes may be an attraction to most girls at this school, they only make me wrinkle my nose in disgust. He looks me up and down as Sierra and I emerge from class, arms and legs crossed, leaning against the locker next to mine. His eyes travel up my body, slowly rising up from my toes; I earn a full smile when he reaches my chest.

Ugh, I think I'm going to lose my breakfast.

"What part of 'I want nothing to do with you so stay the hell away from me' don't you understand?" I spit at him, entering the combination to my locker.

"Hey prick! Back the fuck off! You revolt her." Sierra has had just about enough of this guy as I have.

"What can I say? I like a challenge." He slowly reaches his left hand up to graze against my bare right arm. I slap his hand away before he can make contact. It does nothing but egg him on as he gives me a lopsided grin, an attempt at looking seductive when the only thing I feel is nauseated.

"Attempt to touch me again with that disgusting hand of yours and you will lose it!" I threaten, poking him in the chest for emphasis.

"Ooh I like a feisty woman. It makes them wilder in –"

But what it makes them wilder in I don't find out because Embry's left hand shoots out of nowhere and grabs him by the throat, lifting him up against the cold gray locker and leaving Sean's feet dangling inches above the ground.

Embry, like the rest of Paul's friends, has always been protective of me. When I was five, an older kid at the playground made me cry when he threw sand in my eyes. When Embry saw my red, puffy eyes he forced the kid to eat three handfuls of sand and apologize to me twelve times — once for each tear that ran down my face. But the anger then and the anger now can't even compare. The ire in his eyes could rival Paul's on one of his worst days but what worries me most is that I can tell Embry's holding back.

"Sierra, run! Go find Paul or somebody!" I push her down the hallway in the direction of Paul's math class, hoping she'll run into at least one of the other guys.

The muscles in Embry's arms strain against his fury, his jaw tightens and his breathing comes out faster and faster as his rage grows. His hand hardens around Sean's throat as Sean attempts to kick and punch at Embry's body. Little by little the color drains from Sean's face, his eyes brim with moisture and his pleas to be let go come out raspier with each breath. A crowd of students begin to form a circle around us, effectively blocking us from view of the teachers still oblivious to the scene outside their classrooms. The thundering sound of footsteps can be heard coming from either ends of the hallway as Embry's friends and Sean's approach the throng of students. Thankfully Paul, Jake, Quil and Jared reach us first, Sierra in tow and Kim by her side on her cell phone. The four boys create a barricade around us, preventing Sean's buddies from joining the fight as Sierra and Kim stay on the outer rim of the circle of students, worry etched on their faces.

"What the fuck did we tell you about going near Stacy?" Embry slams Sean's body against the locker every few words for emphasis. Sean's face slowly turns blue, his eyes droop and his head lolls to his right shoulder. He's mere seconds from passing out. "We gave you a warning and what do you do? You actually have the nerve to touch her!"

Paul's head snaps up and his body stiffens at the mention of Sean touching me. He gradually turns around and starts in our direction. The black in his eyes reminds me of that night many months ago and I actually fear for Sean's life.

"Embry stop! Please!" I scream, tears streaming down my face. I place myself between Embry and Paul, my hands pushing against Paul's chest in a weak attempt to stop him from advancing any further. He wraps one arm around my waist and lifts me out of the way, placing me on the other side of his body as if I'm as light as a doll.

"PAUL LEAVE! EMBRY PUT HIM DOWN. NOW!" The booming voice of Sam Uley cuts through the pandemonium occurring in the middle of the hallway as he hastily makes his way toward Sean, Paul and me. Embry crashes Sean's still body against the locker one more time for good measure before dropping him to the ground like a filthy rag, leaving an outline of Sean's body in the dented marks on my locker. Sean lands roughly on his butt, his hands clutching his throat as he coughs and gags for air. Embry gives him one last kick and pushes his way through the crowd to the doors leading outside, grumbling the entire way.

"That wasn't a request Paul. Leave now." There's more authority the second time Sam tells Paul to leave as he finally makes his way to the center of the crowd. Paul turns on his heel and glances between Sam and me, hesitation clearly present on his face. With one last look to Sam, he snarls and crashes his way through the doors after Embry.

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

I know it pains Sam to use his Alpha command with us, but that doesn't make it any easier for me to leave my sister in a building with that worthless sack, Cowley. I so badly want to resist his order, but it feels like I've become a puppet, void of my freewill to stay.

I storm from the building, feeling my body prepare itself for the change into my wolf form by the shaking that gradually increases with each step I take toward the woods. No sooner do I step behind a tree than I erupt into a dark silver wolf, leaving me no time to take my clothes off properly. I can already feel Embry in my mind and see as he heads to Sam and Emily's house across the reservation. I'm not ready to deal with the trouble I'm sure to be in with Sam, so I take the longest route possible, running through the woods along the line that separates the reservation from Forks, a neighboring town.

I stop and from my spot amongst the trees I can hear cars slowly driving around the town and see Forks Police Chief Charlie Swan step into the local diner for lunch.

In all honesty, if Sam hadn't shown up when he did, I really think I might have beat Sean to death. The wolf in me growled to be free, to rip and snarl and tear Sean to pieces the second Embry said Sean had touched Anastasia. I don't care if he merely bumped into her in the hallway by accident; he isn't supposed to be near her at all. The pack, minus Sam, had a "discussion" with him about it all the second day of school. I thought we had been crystal clear when we told him of the danger he would be in if he so much as glanced at her inappropriately. But apparently for him, it had been like looking through a foggy window.

Hopefully the marks around his throat left by Embry's fingers will finally get the message across that we're not fucking around.

'_Hahaha, glad I could be of service.'_ Embry laughs unabashedly, thinking back to the feeling of Sean's throat beneath his hand.

'_Come back to my house now Paul.'_ It's more of a request this time but I still obey as if being commanded. Sam's our alpha, and we will always listen to him, knowing that even when he's yelling at us, it's for our own good and he only has our best interests at heart.

He's in his wolf form and I can see through his mind that he's waiting for me outside the backdoor of the house he shares with his imprint, Emily. _'We need to talk about this. You too Embry, come back now.'_ Embry had stopped at both of our places to grab a spare change of clothes for us. Apparently he hadn't made it very far before he changed either, causing him to rip through his clothes like I had.

'_Thanks man,'_ I call to him.

'_Oh actually it's really more of a gift to myself.'_ He's back to his usual joking self. I embrace his thoughts, hoping to absorb some of his good humor. _'I'm no meat gazer so I really don't feel like seeing your naked ass twice in one day. That just might throw me into another anger fit.' _He laughs at his own wit.

'_Yeah, yeah, right back at you,'_ I retort as I approach Sam sitting on his hind legs behind his house. The distinct scent of Emily's homemade chocolate chip muffins and double fudge brownies wafts through the air from the open kitchen window of the faded yellow house. I poke my head through the window, whimpering, letting her know through my expression that I want some food.

"Oh here, take it," Emily laughs as she tosses out a few muffins. "Now be a good wolfy and listen to Sam." She giggles to herself and closes the window. I dive in without a second thought, finishing just as Embry comes barreling through the trees.

'_DUDE! I wanted some!'_ He whines to me through his thoughts.

"Change back. We need to talk." I was too engrossed in my excitement over Emily's homemade desserts to notice that Sam had phased back from his wolf form. Embry unties two pairs of sweatpants from his right leg, tossing me my favorite black ones.

"I figured you'd want your favorite pair for when Sam rips you a new one," Embry says nonchalantly while pulling up his own. I nod my head in thanks, shrugging mine on.

"I'm not going to 'rip Paul a new one' but you just might be a different story if you keep it up Embry," Sam says with his arms crossed, staring meaningfully at him.

Even though Jake is the biggest in the pack, Sam undoubtedly carries more power at first glance and it has nothing to do with his Alpha status.

As a way to prepare our bodies for our first change, we experience a growth spurt that makes us appear to be in our mid-twenties. The maturing of our bodies is like a more drastic form of puberty: our muscles get bigger and longer, our facial features sharpen, our body temperature shoots to a scorching 108 degrees, we sprout to an almost inhuman size and our bodies learn to magically heal themselves at an incredible rate. But the most drastic change happens the moment we morph into a wolf for the first time: we stop aging. Until we completely stop phasing, our bodies remain frozen at about the physical age of 25. Sam went through the exact same change the rest of us did just before he finished high school about two years ago when a coven of vampires moved to Forks. He was alone in his pack for more than a year before Jared changed but I think that year alone did something to him. For even though his body is supposed to be frozen and he should look about the same age as the rest of us, his face seems older, more mature and almost always looks to be wrought with worry. We are more than a pack of wolves, we are a pack of brothers and it's always been clear to the rest of us that our oldest brother Sam was not as lucky as the rest of us during his change. Alone and without an understanding as to what was happening to him, Sam patrolled the grounds of La Push a lone wolf.

"Do either of you understand how lucky you are that Kim called me today?" Ooh, Sam is pissed. We've all been in fights before (it's pretty much inevitable for the first few weeks after we change because everything ticks us off and it's almost impossible to control the phasing), but something about this particular fight has Sam especially heated, no pun intended. "Embry, do you realize how close you came to actually killing that boy? That didn't look like some normal teenage fight Embry! You literally had that boy lifted off the ground with one hand — normal teenage boys can't do that!" Aah, so he's upset about the possible death and exposure aspect of today's scuffle. Understandable.

"Nah it'll be no big deal Sam. Just tell everybody I'm on steroids or something." Embry waves off Sam's worries with a flick of his hand. "But make sure you let them know that my package is still big and hasn't been affected. Can't have the ladies getting the wrong idea." He finishes with a wink and a nudge to Sam's stomach with his elbow. "Hey do you think Emily has any extra muffins or brownies?" I slap my palm to my forehead. Damn it, that dumbass is going to get us both a month's worth of night patrols if he doesn't shut his trap.

"Sam, he touched my sister! We gave him specific orders to never go near her again and yet he waits for her after third period every day. He never leaves her alone," I argue.

"Did he hit her? Or threaten her with violence of any kind?" Sam asks.

"No. But he touched her arm and we made it perfectly clear that if he even went near her again we'd rip his throat out," Embry answers. "I was just delivering on that promise." I clap him on the back and nod my head in agreement.

"What am I going to do with you guys?" Sam shakes his head and closes his eyes briefly in frustration. "You fight for no reason and risk exposure to us all! Some punk kid is not worth revealing what we are! There is so much more important than being the tough guys in school and beating up some little kid. Anastasia is a very bright girl and I'm sure she can handle some dumb kid who hits on her all the time. Besides," he whips his head in my direction, pointing at my chest, "I thought you didn't want your sister or her friend finding out what you are?"

"Of course I don't." I'm starting to get angry again.

"Well you're doing a helluva job hiding it then aren't you?" Sam yells. "You know she's already wondering why you shake and randomly leave late at night. How are you going to explain how Embry was able to lift a 180 pound kid off the ground with one hand?"

Embry and I hang our heads in shame. We know Sam is right and looking back on the situation, taking Sean outside away from prying eyes probably would have been a better idea.

"I don't want to hear about this shit happening again. Is that understood?" Sam glares pointedly at both of us. We nod our heads in understanding. "Good. Embry, you have night patrols every day for the next three weeks for that one-handed stunt. And you are not allowed to miss school the next day just because you're tired. Got it?" Embry looks like he wants to fight back but knows Sam will increase his punishment if he does. The worst thing about that punishment is not the nightly patrols but that he can't ditch school the next day. One thing about Sam and Emily is that they always try to put school first — whether we like it or not.

"Yeah, okay. Sorry Sam," Embry stares down at the wet grass, hands in his pockets, kicking the ground.

"Alright then, you start tomorrow night. And Paul, learn to control that anger. It's good for when we need to be on alert but not so much in a public place like a school hallway. Your sister is getting older, guys are going to start noticing her more — deal with it!" I know Sam is right but he's never had a sister, he doesn't understand how protective a brother can be. I nod my head in agreement anyway. It seems to appease him enough because he changes the subject.

"Good because we've got a more important matter to discuss." His tone changes as he looks both of us in the eye, letting us in on the significance of what he's about to say. "I talked to Sue Clearwater today. She said Seth's had a recent growth spurt. His muscles are starting to get longer and his eating habits are increasing. He's close you guys. My guess is he's got about another month until he fully changes." He finishes on a somber note, his eyes downcast as he heads into the house. Embry and I follow in an almost zombie state.

My mind is reeling. As much as all of the pack members love our ability to change and become something so unbelievably freeing, it isn't a lifestyle any of us would have chosen for ourselves. We're tied forever to this reservation, to a mythical world involving werewolves and vampires and their ongoing battle against each other. Every one of us has had to grow up before we were really ready as a result of being a protector of La Push. Now instead of chasing girls at First Beach on a Saturday night, we're deep in the woods, looking in at the crowd of drunk and partying teenagers from afar, protecting everyone without their knowledge from creatures so much worse than the monster under their bed.

"But Seth is only 14 and in the eighth grade!" Embry slumps down in a kitchen chair, head in his hands. Oh God, I hadn't even thought about his age!

Anybody who has ever met Seth Clearwater loves him immediately. He has this infectious smile no one can resist and is just genuinely kind. He's been friends with Anastasia for as long as I can remember and has had a crush on her for about just as long. I know she's always had a small thing for him too but she's recently been too caught up in Quil to notice how much Seth adores her. Those two have always had a slightly flirtatious relationship and I only put up with it because if there is any guy I would wholeheartedly be okay with her dating, it's Seth. A good-natured kid to his very core, he is probably the only boy (other than my best friends), who I would trust to be around her alone. I've never seen him without that huge happy grin that is undeniably his and can't even begin to imagine him as a fierce and angry wolf.

I mimic Embry's actions and plop myself in the chair next to him. The seat creaks under my weight. Ever the mother, Emily rubs my back in a soothing manner and places a plate of cookies and muffins in the center of the table.

"But why would he even need to change?" I think out loud, "Those leeches have been here for a while and we haven't caught scent of any others lurking around."

The reason for our pack generation is because of those parasites, the Cullens. Sam first changed when they moved here about two years ago. There are seven of those leeches and they claim to be "vegetarians," meaning they only drink the blood of animals but we're not taking any chances. Jake's great-grandfather, Ephraim Black, made a treaty with their blood-sucking leader, Carlisle, which keeps them off our land and forbids them from biting a human. If they slip, we attack and we're always ready. But they've been here long enough that we all thought our pack was complete when Quil phased a few weeks into summer.

"I wish I knew Paul. More than that, I wish he didn't have to change. My only guess is that his transformation means we're meant to prepare for something. I have a hunch Seth won't be the last to join our pack." Sam pops a brownie into his mouth and heads upstairs. Embry and I take that as our cue to leave.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** Reviews are nice, but not mandatory. Nevertheless, thanks for reading!

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

"Come on Stacy," Jake says, putting his arm around my shoulder, "you and Sierra can catch a ride home with Quil and me. Just hope you guys don't mind scrunching into the backseat."

"Oh, uh, no I don't mind," I mumble. "And it's just me, Sierra left during fourth period for a doctor's appointment."

I climb into the back of Jake's Rabbit after school, my mind still spinning from this afternoon's turbulent scene in the hallway. After Paul and Embry stormed from the school building, various teachers emerged from their classrooms, demanding to know what happened. Thankfully a majority of students had already cleared out, including Sean, his friends and us. During lunch, as I sat with Paul's friends and Sierra, I could feel hundreds of students' eyes on me, hear their whispered comments and see as they would hastily turn their heads when Jake or any of the guys caught them looking our way. I felt like an animal in a cage, just something to be gawked at until a new and better attraction came along.

For the remainder of the day, people stopped their conversations mid-sentence when I walked by or into the classroom, and guys made wide arcs around me in the hallway, afraid another one of Paul's friends would lift them by their throats for coming within five feet of me. I don't think anyone told any of the teachers or other school administrators what happened and for that, I'm extremely grateful. I feel bad enough as it is that Sean nearly died, I don't know what I'd do if Embry got in trouble for sticking up for me. Yes, Sean is a disgusting pig, but he didn't deserve almost getting his throat ripped out for barely grazing my arm. A simple punch in the stomach would have sufficed just fine. I'll have to apologize to him when I get the chance.

Jake glances back at me through his rearview mirror as we pull out of the parking lot.

"Stacy, sweetheart, cheer up okay? No one is going to get in trouble." Jake attempts to soothe me upon seeing the upset look on my face. "Sean had it coming to him. He's damn lucky Sam showed up when he did."

"But Embry could have seriously hurt him!" I can feel the tears forming at the edges of my eyes as my bottom lip begins to quiver. "This is all my fault!"

I'm completely sobbing by the time Jake turns onto my street. Quil turns around from his spot in the front seat to pat me consolingly on the leg. I'm too upset to be excited by the fact that Quil is touching me. The car slows to a crawl as Jake pulls up to the curb outside my house and parks, turning off the engine and scooting the driver's seat forward so I can exit. My blubbering continues as I stumble my way out from the backseat, dropping my backpack on the ground.

"Look at me Anastasia," Jake commands, placing his giant hands on my shoulders and lowering his body so he can look me in the eyes. "None of this is your fault. Sean knew not to touch you. No matter how insignificant brushing you on the arm may seem, you didn't want him to do that and that doesn't sit well with any of us."

Despite his gentle tone, my tears fail to cease. I look down at the ground and fiddle with my fingers. It's true that I didn't want Sean to touch me but slamming his body against the locker by his throat wasn't the best course of action. Jake places his hands on either side of my face to force my eyes back up to meet his, wiping away my tears with the pads of his overlarge thumbs along the way.

I stop crying almost immediately.

Out of all the guys, Jake is the best brother (other than Paul of course). He may not be as protective as Embry (at least probably not enough to lift some guy off the floor by his throat for barely touching my arm), or as sweet as Quil, but he's always been able to calm me down in a way the other two couldn't. For Paul's ninth birthday he decided to have a horror movie marathon and like the annoying little sister I can be, I demanded to be allowed to join. Paul warned me that I would get scared and, of course, I did. Jake heard my muffled sobs and sniffles on the way to the bathroom that night and let me sleep with the rest of them in the living room. He made me a little bed on the couch and slept on the ground beside it so "all the monsters will stay away."

There's just something about him that has always been able to soothe me, even as a child.

"Listen. We will do anything for you. Don't ever blame yourself for something we do to protect you." He pulls me in for one of his bone crushing hugs and kisses me on the top of my head. "We love you, okay? Never forget that."

I bury my head in his torso and wrap my arms as far around his enormous body as they will go. "Thanks Jake. I love you guys too."

"Good, that's what I want to hear." The smile I love has returned to his face as he picks my backpack up off the ground and hands it to me. "Now, go inside and do your homework. And I expect to see a big, beautiful smile on that pretty face of yours tomorrow. Got it?" He wags his finger at me in a joking fashion, humor in his eyes.

"Haha yeah sure, whatever you say." I take my backpack from him, steal one last bear hug, and wave goodbye to Quil who's still seated in the passenger seat. "Bye Quil. Thanks for the ride Jake. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

I open the gate leading to our front yard and unlock the door to the empty house, kicking off my shoes and dropping my stuff on the floor as I close the door behind me. Walking through our cramped living room, I head to the kitchen, thinking about making a sandwich since I was too lost in my thoughts to really eat lunch today. Our house is constantly overstocked with insane amounts of food for a family of four. Half of this is because of Paul, whose appetite grew as he did. The other half is because of Paul's friends who eat here even when we're not here.

Scrounging through the refrigerator, the usual teenage boy food groups are present: mounds of various types of cheese, jugs of milk and juice, packages of hot dog weenies, hamburger patties, leftover lasagna, last night's enchiladas, eggs, lunchmeats — the list is endless. I open the lunchmeat drawer in the middle, praying Quil didn't eat the last of the ham, knowing that's the only type of lunchmeat I like. Between shoving past the blocks of cheddar and slices of American cheese and moving the turkey and roast beef it becomes obvious that today is just not my day. I slam the refrigerator door, causing the drawer to crash back into its place. Storming from the kitchen, I head upstairs to my room on the second floor at the end of the hallway and plop on my dark blue comforter, intending to nap away the craziness of my day.

Damn, this would be a lot more comfortable had I made my bed this morning. I pull at the bunched up blankets stabbing into my back and flop back down. Yeah, a nap just isn't in my schedule apparently.

Ten minutes later I'm making my way down the road to take a walk on First Beach. I find it soothing, the squishing of the cold sand between my toes and the cool breeze whipping through my hair. I sit down on a log just on the sand to take off my shoes and socks. Placing them out of view, I begin my aimless trek, trying hard to empty my mind of my befuddled thoughts.

"Hey Stacy! Stacy! Wait up!" I spin on my heel, enjoying the feel of the sand beneath my feet, and search for the person calling my name. The voice sounds very familiar but the body and face hardly match the sound. Seth Clearwater and I have been friends even longer than Sierra and me and he is one of my favorite people in the whole world. One of the sweetest people I know, I have never heard him utter a bad word about anybody and he has this adorable smile that makes a person love him automatically. He's always been really cute but seeing him on the beach today in a shirt entirely too small for him drives away all thoughts about my love for Quil.

"SETH!" I run into his open arms, earning my second bone-crushing hug of the day. "My goodness what's happened to you? You're freaking huge! Did you fall into a bin of radioactive waste or something?"

I haven't seen Seth since about two or three weeks before school started but it seems as if he's grown tremendously, much in the way Paul and his friends did. He's maintained the gangly build he's become known for but his muscles and jaw line are more defined and his hands look like they could easily palm basketballs. He looks more like an 18-year-old high school senior than a 14-year-old eighth grader.

"Har-har very funny. Actually I've just been having crazy growth spurts lately." He puts me back on my feet, wraps his left arm around my shoulders and we continue walking down the beach to nowhere in particular.

I guess a part of me has always had a small crush on Seth; it would be almost impossible not to considering the way we act with one another. We have a very flirtatious relationship but have never defined ourselves as an 'item.' People often question us and the automatic response is that we're friends, but I don't think that term makes sense with us. I really like Quil, and have for a while, but it's times like these when I'm with Seth, just wandering aimlessly in companionable silence, that I wonder why I'm into Quil. Sure he's extremely sweet, cute, tall and funny — the ideal package, but there's just something about Seth that draws me to him. I can go weeks without seeing him and only think of Quil and how perfect he is, but as soon as I see Seth's face, it's like Quil doesn't even exist. I've never been able to explain it to myself but I have a sneaking suspicion Seth feels it too.

"Well yeah I can see that!" I gesture to his giant body with my left hand, my eyes wide as I take in his growing form. "But enough about your giantness, what's new? How much do you miss seeing my great face every day in school?"

"I miss seeing your beautiful face so much that I decided to stalk you down to the beach!" he laughs, "But other than my 'giantness' as you so kindly put it, not much is new. Leah is still a huge pain in my ass and my dad still can't get over the fact that I don't enjoy fishing. Just because him, Billy and Charlie like spending hours on a boat doing nothing doesn't mean everyone in the world does! You know, the usual." We settle in a small dip of cold sand, facing the ocean. I lean into his warmth, his arm still around my shoulders. "How about you? Heard Paul and crew have been kicking some ass lately at the high school." He grins widely and wags his eyebrows at me.

"Oh my goodness Seth you don't even know the half of it!" I sit up straight and rub my face with my hands, letting the frustrations of the past three weeks finally consume me before turning to look Seth in the face. "I mean, I knew they were all going to be ridiculously over protective of me because, well, that's just how they are but I think it's almost more than I can handle. They literally growl whenever a guy looks at me. They growl Seth! Who does that? And then today, Embry totally flipped out when this creepy guy touched me. I mean, yeah he was bothering me but Embry lifted the guy inches off the ground by his throat WITH ONE HAND! So now everyone is super terrified to go near me because my brother and his friends are crazy. Guys are literally avoiding me in the hallways. As in they make the widest arc possible so they don't have to go anywhere near me. I've become a pariah! And then to top it off, the homecoming dance is next month and with every guy in fear of getting their ass beat, there's no way I'll get asked to go and I really wanted to."

I lean my head in the palm of my left hand and look Seth in the eyes. Like with Jake, I feel soothed around Seth but it's in a different way. With Jake I feel calm after I'm upset but with Seth I feel safe, comfortable — as if all my worries are insignificant as long as he's next to me.

"Damn. Hahaha, I knew they were going to go crazy but wow! Man I'm glad they like me." He holds his sides as his loud, booming laughter overtakes the sound of the crashing waves against the shore. I can't help the smile that forms on my face from the sound.

"Yeah well I'm glad you find humor in my upsetting situation." I look away from him and out to the sea, taking in a big gulp of ocean air.

"Would you rather they didn't look out for you? And let slime balls drape themselves all over you?" The humor is gone from his voice. "I get why you're so frustrated but you know they're only so protective because they worry about you. You're the most important person in Paul's life and the baby sister to Jake, Embry and Quil. They just want to make sure you don't get hurt."

"No, I know all that and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. I have the best brothers in the world and I love them all for how much they care about me but sometimes I just, I don't know, wish they would ease up a little bit." I sigh. It feels good to finally get this off my chest.

"Stacy the chances of them easing up are pretty slim and you know that. Just know they only do it because they have your best interests at heart." I nudge him with my elbow playfully and hurt myself more than him. Seth always knows what to say to make me feel better about any situation. "Now, tell me about this homecoming dance."

"Kay, well, like I said, it's at the end of next month and I really want to go but I don't want to go alone. I mean, I guess I could but I want to go with a date for my first dance. Sierra said I could tag along with her and her date and I know Paul and those guys wouldn't mind if I went along with them but it just wouldn't be the same you know?" I huff out in frustration. "I don't know. The dance is on Halloween so maybe I'll just stay home that night, eat my misery in Cheez-It Party Mix and watch horror movies." I try to lighten the mood by laughing at my sadness but Seth knows me better than that.

"Well I know I'm no high school stud, but I'll take you to the dance if you'll let me." He looks self conscious as he asks me, playing with a small bit of sand that he flips back and forth between his hands. "I mean, no worries if you don't want to go with me. I totally understand, I just figure it'd be better than sitting at home alone," he rushes out, clearly mistaking the pause I take to observe his body language as a bad sign.

I smile.

"Seth, I would be honored to go with you to my first homecoming dance." I hug his side with as much strength as I can muster, albeit a little awkwardly. Fear starts to creep into my thoughts. What if he only offered because he feels bad for me? "But you really don't have to if you don't want to. I don't want you to feel obligated to take me just because I'm sitting here whining about it."

"Don't be ridiculous. If I don't take you then everyone's going to know I hangout with a loser girl who sits at home by herself on homecoming and that just won't be good for my reputation next year in high school." He winks at me and laughs, letting me in on the joke. I shove him hard by the shoulder.

"Very funny jerk. You've been hanging out with Embry and Jake too much." I scowl at him.

"Well I'd rather hangout with you, you smell better." He stands up and holds out his hand to help me. "Come on. It's starting to get cold out here, I'll walk you back home." I take his help and together we walk, hand-in-hand, back to my house.

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><p><strong>Seth POV<strong>

Stacy really is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, inside and out. Walking hand-in-hand with her back to her house feels like the most natural thing in the world. I swing our hands gently as we stroll and earn a dazzling smile that lights up her entire face. One of the best things about my relationship with Stacy is that there's not a lot of need for words. Hanging out for an entire afternoon only to utter a handful of sentences is totally normal for us. It's a comfortable silence that's rare to find with a person, even with the people we're most relaxed with. Stacy and I have been friends forever and I've had a crush on her since the moment I laid eyes on her. But at the same time, it's a whole lot more in a way I can't really explain.

I feel as though I need to be with her but not in a creepy way, if that makes any sense. It's this unexplainable attraction that draws me to her, that lets me unconsciously know she's at the beach even before I reach her house, for example. It's strange, but it's almost as if we're connected in a way that allows me to know her better than she knows herself and vice versa. I know she feels this same kind of chemistry with me but for some reason we've never discussed it. We act more like a couple than a pair of harmless friends and it's always seemed strange to me to describe Stacy as a friend when deep down, I know she's more than that.

We're not an item and for the life of me I can't really figure out why because it's not like Paul would object. He's so comfortable with Stacy and me and our very close relationship. He bites the heads off most guys who even glance at his sister but has yet to bat an eye when I hold her hand or drape my arms around her shoulders or waist. Honestly, I think he's just bidding his time until we finally get together to really dig into me. Knowing him, it'll be a big production filled with Jake, Embry and Quil all stating how they'll chop me to pieces if I go too far. Really though, they'd have nothing to worry about because I'd rather hurt myself than hurt Stacy. I suppose her and I will just happen when it's meant to happen. When it's time, we'll know.

"Thanks for walking me back," Stacy says as we approach her front gate. "We need to not go this long without hanging out again. I miss seeing that big ol' jolly face of yours." She laughs a beautiful laugh, reaching up on her tiptoes to squish my cheeks with her fingers. "I'll call you later so we can figure out the details for the dance and such."

"That sounds good to me. But don't go expecting a fancy corsage. Oh and I plan on wearing a tuxedo t-shirt," I joke.

"First of all, I expect a beautiful corsage that matches my dress. Second of all, wear a tuxedo shirt and die." She slaps me on the shoulder lightly and giggles.

"Yeah okay. See you later beautiful." I lift her up in a tight hug, taking in the smell of the woodsy scent that has recently become her. Hmm, must be a new perfume.

"Kay, bye. And thanks again for taking me to the dance. I can't wait." She reaches up again on her tiptoes and kisses me on the cheek before heading through the gate and into her house, waving goodbye as she closes her front door.

As I walk the four blocks to my house my mind drifts off to the homecoming dance next month. I've never been to a dance and find it kind of funny that my first high school dance will be when I'm not even in high school. Although with the way I've been growing lately, it's not like anyone will know I'm only in eighth grade. I can't explain the changes that have been occurring in me these past few weeks but I feel as though everything about me is changing, not just my height. More than that though, it's all happening so quickly.

It's only been about three weeks since I noticed I was growing at a rapid rate and already I've gained approximately half a foot in height. At first I chalked it up to puberty but when I gained nearly 30 pounds in muscle, I knew something wasn't right. Where all that muscle came from, I have no idea because I haven't worked out other than the assigned running and weight lifting in gym class. And for as much food as I eat every day, I should be gaining fat, not muscle. But nevertheless, my muscles have gotten more pronounced and virtually all of the baby fat from my body has disappeared. I still feel like myself but at the same time I'm scared about the changes that are going on in my body.

To make matters worse, I have a sneaking suspicion my mom knows more than she's letting on about what's going on with me. I've caught her a few times on the phone late at night talking to my sister's ex-boyfriend, Sam Uley, when she thinks I'm asleep. I can never get much from the conversation but I know I'm the main topic of discussion because I often hear my name mixed in with "growth spurts" and "he's close isn't he?" I've tried asking her a thousand times what she means by "he's close isn't he?" but she refuses to elaborate beyond "you'll know in time."

I don't get frightened very easily but it's almost impossible not to when my body is freaking out on me and no one will tell me why.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **Reviews are nice, but not mandatory. Thanks for reading!

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><p><strong>William Chehalis (Dad) POV<strong>

Looking around the table, I can't help but smile to myself as my daughter and son talk animatedly to my wife about their hectic day. To me, this is what life is all about: sitting around the dinner table with my wonderful family, talking, laughing, and sharing the stories of our day. I married the gorgeous, short-tempered woman I fell in love with in high school; I have a smart, beautiful, kind teenage daughter and a responsible, handsome, loving son. Albeit my son and his friends morph into giant wolves and patrol our reservation to protect the people of our tribe from bloodthirsty vampires … but other than that, my family and my life are perfect.

When we first told people Leila was pregnant with Paul, everybody talked about the undying love that would naturally come the moment I held my son in my arms for the first time; how my world would shift to include more than just my wife and myself. What I wasn't prepared for was the insane worry and pride that accompanies a parent upon finding out their son can change into a wolf to hunt vampires. So when Leila and I were initially informed about Paul's change, we were at a complete loss as to how to handle the situation. And honestly, even months later, we're not any closer.

I remember the strange night Paul first turned: the way my mind screamed at me to help my son even though I had no idea what was going on, how Jared Cameron and Sam Uley busted through my back door out of nowhere, and the ear-splitting screams of my daughter Stacy, as she cried out for her older brother. Even worse were the three agonizingly long days Paul was gone and we had no idea where he was.

At the time, all Billy Black and Quil Ateara Sr. would tell us was "Paul is safe and he will return soon. Then you will know everything." When Paul finally walked through the door three days later, Leila and I were ready for an explanation and we weren't going to wait any longer. Our son had run off without contacting us in any way, damn right we were pissed. But when all five of us walked into our bedroom and Billy told us how the stories of our Quileute ancestors descending from wolves are true, all anger and questions quickly dissipated from our minds. All I could think was, 'How the hell is it possible that my son could be a wolf? He's a 16-year-old boy who can't remember to pick up his dirty laundry from his bedroom floor!'

Nevertheless, the truth of what they were saying was undeniable as Sam stood before us as a large, black wolf while Billy explained the burden our son must now bear. After the initial shock, the only thing I could think of was how this was going to affect my son. Later that night after Sam, Billy and Quil Sr. left, Leila and I had a discussion with Paul, giving him our support no matter what he decided to do.

Words cannot express how very proud I am of my son for everything he has taken on without complaint, for growing up and maturing before he was emotionally or mentally ready. Getting up late at night to patrol our grounds in order to make sure we're safe and then going to school not even two hours later — he couldn't be placed higher in my opinion of him. But at the same time, I would be just as proud if Paul decided he no longer wanted to be a protector of La Push. That's the thing about being a parent: no matter what your children do, no matter what decisions they make, that unconditional love doesn't fade. He's my son, and if he decided he no longer wanted to phase and take on a job he never asked for, I would back him to the fullest extent, no questions asked.

There are thousands of books on how to raise children and what to do if they rebel, but there's nothing on how to control a wolf's anger or deal with the incredible eating habits of them and their pack. There's no guide on how to ease the worry and fear that accompanies a parent when his or her only son leaves the house late at night to guard the reservation. All Leila and I have are the prayers we say every night when they patrol that Paul and his pack return to us safely.

"… and then Sam Uley appears from nowhere and orders Embry to put him down and Paul to leave," Stacy says, explaining the latest anger fit by Paul and his friends at school. My wife and I glance at each other, not entirely surprised about this afternoon's public scuffle, but extremely thankful for Sam's sudden presence. We all accepted Paul's anger problem years ago (we've been putting up with it since he was a baby), so Stacy doesn't find this latest one odd. But trying to excuse his usually calm friends for their sudden rage issues is much more of a struggle. I sigh out loud; I just wish Paul would tell Stacy everything already so we can stop keeping so many secrets in this family. "Why was Sam there anyway Paul?" She looks at her older brother innocently. I chuckle inwardly. I wonder what lame excuse Paul is going to tell her this time.

"Huh?" He looks at me, begging with his eyes for help. I just look back at him curiously, awaiting his answer. This is what he gets for not telling Stacy what's been going on for the past few months. From across the table, I notice my wife trying to hide her smile by taking a drink of her water. "Oh he, uh, he had to talk to Kim about something. For Emily." He finishes awkwardly and immediately begins shoveling food in his mouth in an attempt to halt any more conversation on the topic.

"Oh. Well then that was definitely lucky timing then." Damn is he lucky she fell for that one. That excuse was almost worse than the time he told her the reason Quil was wearing only cutoff shorts in a freezing thunderstorm was because he was trying to bring his fever down. "Oh Mom guess what? I'm going to the homecoming dance next month — with a date!" She claps her hands in excitement and bounces around in her seat.

"WHAT?" Paul drops his fork on his plate with a clatter and his eyes narrow to slits. "Who asked you? Nobody asked me if they could ask you."

"Paul, honey, calm down," Leila soothes, lightly patting him on the arm. "And Stacy, sweetie, that's great! But who are you going with? You know your father and I have to meet him before we give you permission."

For as smart as our daughter is, we worry about her naiveté when it comes to members of the opposite sex. Stacy hasn't had a lot of experience when it comes to boys other than Paul and his best friends so our main fear is that some guy will take advantage of her. The last thing we want is our daughter harmed and our son in jail for murder.

"That won't be necessary Mom because you and Dad already know him." The three of us look at her with confusion. The only boys she knows that we know are Paul's friends and there's no way in hell Paul would ever allow one of them to take his sister to a dance as a date. "I saw Seth today while I was walking on the beach and he asked me to go with him."

She ends with a giant smile on her face, clearly excited to be going with the Clearwater boy. He's a very nice kid and Leila and I both know we can trust him. An added bonus for my wife and I is that Paul really likes him too and has enough confidence in him to be around his sister without the presence of his watchful eye. That fact alone will help us avoid arguments.

"Well that's good sweetheart," I say in between bites of my meatloaf. "We like that boy. You'll have a good time. Paul, you're going right? You can take the SUV and give them a ride there and back." I look to my son who's visibly glaring at me. My children were raised to respect my wife and me and we've been fortunate enough to not have any real problems with them other than the occasional backtalk and angry stomping. So glancing into Paul's angry eyes, I can tell something is very wrong. I stare back at him in confusion.

"I don't think that's a very good idea Anastasia." Paul clears his throat and wipes his mouth with his napkin as Leila and Stacy begin to clear the table.

I've always found it kind of endearing that Paul only calls his sister by her full name. When she was little, she only wanted to be called Anastasia because she said the name sounded like a princess's name. But as she got older, she told us that she preferred to be called Stacy instead. My wife and I didn't mind either way, we figured it was just her wanting to appear a little girlier to fit in with her friends. As long as she didn't want to change her name to something strange, we didn't care. Paul, on the other hand, never stopped calling her Anastasia. At first it kind of bugged her, but then I think she realized what we all did: Paul just wasn't ready for her to grow up from the little girl he's always taken care of. He puts his sister above anything and anyone, including my wife and me. Most parents might be kind of bugged by this but Leila and I take comfort in knowing that no matter what happens to us, Paul will always be around to protect and care for Stacy. She's his baby sister and he will go to the ends of the Earth to protect her, no matter the cost.

"What! Why? But you like Seth!" She spins around from her spot by the kitchen counter where she's stacking dishes, her face clearly devastated.

"Paul, since when are you against Stacy going places with Seth? You've always said he's the only guy you'd trust around her other than your friends and the family." My wife looks at me perplexed, as if I know why our son has suddenly had a change of heart about the Clearwater boy.

"I just don't think it's a good idea." His eyes swivel between Leila and me meaningfully, expecting us to draw something from nothing. "For one, Seth doesn't even go to the high school and two, I think you're too young to date."

From the opposite end of the kitchen, Stacy begins to sniffle, tears forming a wet path down her cheeks. "Please Paul, don't do this! That's not fair!" She slams her fist on the counter, causing the plates and silverware to rattle against each other noisily. "Mom! Dad!"

It must be the fatherly instinct in me because I can't stand to see my daughter cry. She looks at me, her eyes already red and puffy, pleading with her expression for me to be the voice of reason in Paul's sometimes-illogical thinking in reference to his sister. Her bottom lip quivers as she struggles to not break down completely in the middle of the kitchen. In just seconds she has managed to break my heart; I would rather be blind than ever witness the upset look gracing her normally smiling face again. Clearly she has been looking forward to this dance.

"Stacy, please excuse your mother and I while we talk with your brother." She storms from the room, shoving Paul roughly as she brushes past him, still seated in his spot to my right at the table. She stomps up the stairs, calling Paul names the entire way to her room where she slams the door shut. Her mattress squeaks as she throws herself upon it.

"This better be good Paul William Chehalis!" Leila angrily scolds. Aahh, my beautiful, temperamental wife. She doesn't put up with much so I've always assumed she's where Paul gets his quick temper. "Your sister is really looking forward to this dance and you know Seth would never do anything to hurt her! And now she's up in her room crying her eyes out. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"No, I do like Seth and I know he would never purposely hurt her but …" My wife unexpectedly cuts off his explanation, fire in her eyes.

"But what? I know your father and I have always given you authority over your sister but if this is just some ploy to keep boys away from her I'm going to be extremely furious with you, Paul." She glares at him, finger pointed in his direction.

"Sweetheart, calm down. Let him explain first." I give her a quick peck on the lips and gently tug her by her thin arm to a chair on the other side of me, across from Paul. "This better be good Paul otherwise your mom will kill me for interrupting her rant. You know how she loves those." I earn an eye roll, a small smile and a whack on the arm from my lovely wife. I knew I'd crack a smile with that comment.

"Okay listen." Paul huffs out a frustrated blast of air before wiping his hands nervously on his dark jeans. Oh, this sounds like it's going to be more than his usual overprotective antics. "After Embry and I got chewed out by Sam today, Sam mentioned that he had talked to Sue, you know Seth's mom?" Leila and I nod our heads in acknowledgment. "Anyway, according to Sue, Seth's been growing a lot lately and his appetite has increased ten-fold, much in the same way mine did." We stare at him blankly. "Mom, Dad — Seth's close to phasing for the first time. We can't be sure obviously, but Sam is estimating Seth has about a month until he fully changes. You remember what it was like the night I phased for the first time? Well, it's going to be just like that. I honestly and truly do like Seth and trust him wholeheartedly to be around Anastasia, but I just don't want her around him for a little bit, at least not until he's mastered his control. Until then, he's going to be very dangerous and could phase at any moment. You've met Sam's imprint Emily, you've seen the scars and you know the real story. All it takes is one slip of self-control. I'm just being cautious."

"But isn't Seth Clearwater only 14?" I ask. Poor kid. I hope Sam is wrong about him phasing. Fourteen is just too young to take on the kind of life Paul and the rest of those boys have ended up with. Then again, they're all really just overgrown children. None of them deserve their burden.

"Yeah I know, Embry and I said the same thing. We don't understand why he would phase. I mean, he's so young! He doesn't deserve this life." Paul places his head in his hands and groans; he's clearly torn up about this. I clap him on the back in a show of comfort. "I mean, we all thought the pack was complete once Quil phased over the summer. I don't know. Sam thinks Seth phasing means we're meant to prepare for something but he doesn't know what. But whatever, that's pack stuff and I shouldn't be talking about it with anybody." He sits up straight in his chair again, ready to get back to the topic at hand. "The point is, Seth is very unstable right now, even if he doesn't know it. Even her hanging out with him today at the beach was a risky move. All it takes is one thing to upset him and he could blow. Heck, Jake wasn't even angry when he phased for the first time. In fact, he was in a great mood. But all it took was Billy asking him if he'd had a good time at the movies and he just exploded! Seth is going to be unsafe to be around for a little bit and I would really prefer it if Anastasia wasn't around him for a few months. Three max."

"Paul, your sister has been so excited about this dance and you can only imagine how much she wants to go. It'll be her first dance! I mean, won't you and the rest of the pack be there too? You guys know the warning signs." Leila looks at Paul, desperate to find a solution to his worries.

"Yeah we're going to be there. Sam is all but commanding us to go. Keeps saying something about maintaining a sense of teenage normalcy." He rolls his eyes. I can't blame him. He's a teenage werewolf, not much about him is normal. "Whatever. Look, I get that this dance is super important to her but either way it just wouldn't be wise for her to be around him. There will be other dances, she can go with him to the next one."

"How about we compromise: She gets to go to this dance with Seth but you will drive them there and back. In exchange, she won't be alone with him in the month preceding the dance and/or until he's mastered his control. She'll be busy with schoolwork anyway and if they do hangout how about they do it over here where someone is always around? He won't be allowed over here without one of us present. Can you live with that?" Leila asks, looking hopefully at our son.

Predictably, Paul looks as if he wants to argue back. I knew he wouldn't be happy with anything that didn't involve Stacy having no contact with Seth until he gave the okay. I laugh to myself as my wife cuts in before he can get a word formed. "Okay fine, clearly you're not happy with that solution. We'll leave the final decision to your father then." They both look at me expectantly as I mentally weigh the outcome of either choice.

Above anything, my daughter's personal safety is of the upmost importance and that is my main consideration in everything. Remembering the beginning of my own son's transformation and the three deep lashes that bring down the right side of Emily's face, I shudder at the image of Stacy having direct contact with Seth as he changes for the first time. The way Paul shook and growled and the strange tearing sounds that seemed to erupt from inside his body are all visions and sounds I will forever have stamped in my mind. I can only imagine what would have happened to us had Sam and Jared not entered when they did. But even if Seth does somehow change while at the dance, the entire pack, minus Sam, will be there and undoubtedly watching her like a hawk. She'll be safer at the dance with Seth and five experienced wolves than we were with Paul and two wolves.

"Okay look. Paul I understand your concern for Stacy and I do agree with what you're saying. It will be dangerous for her to be around him for a little bit but I won't deny her something that is clearly so important." Paul starts to growl under his breath and looks as if he wants to explode at my words. I know he's only thinking about his sister's safety, but his mother and I have never put up with his anger fits for very long. "Hey! Calm down and control yourself right now young man," I order him. The quaking slowly fades. He may have constant anger fits, but he's never been anything but respectful to his elders. "As I was saying, she will go but you will drive them to and from the dance. Until then, they will not be alone together and like your mother said, she'll most likely be too busy with school anyway to see him. I know you don't agree with my decision but there you have it. You and the rest of the pack will be there the entire time so I feel we don't really have anything to worry about. I am confident you guys will look out for her. If you really don't like the solution then why don't you just tell her the truth? Tell her the reason why she can't go to the dance or see Seth for three months is because he's busy changing into a wolf in order to hunt vampires secretly at night."

Leila and I both know he'll never tell her so she runs upstairs to deliver the good news to our daughter. An excited squeal is heard from Stacy's room.

"That's not fair. You know I can't do that," he growls out angrily.

"Correction: Sam said you can tell her, you just don't want to," I point out. So many of our problems would be solved if only Paul would let Stacy in on the biggest secret our family has ever had to keep.

"Fine." Paul crosses his arms, jaw tight and huffs back in his chair. "If that's your decision then I'll respect it. May I go for a run now? I need to burn off steam."

"Yes you may. But you don't have patrol tonight and you have school tomorrow so I want you back early. Understood?" He nods. We stand up and I walk over to my son, embracing him in a hug. "I know you're not happy but at least attempt to understand our final decision," I say as I step back enough to look Paul in the eyes despite our height difference. My how my son has shot up! "I thank you for wanting to lookout so much for your sister. She may get mad at you, but she appreciates it as well. I love you, Son."

"I know Dad and I do get why you and Mom made your decision I just don't want anything to happen to her. I'm gonna go for a run now, I need to clear my head. I'll be back in about an hour." He walks to the backdoor, taking off his shirt and shoes and placing them to the side of the door. Hmm, he must be going to run as a wolf. He stops before crossing through the doorway and turns to look at me. "I love you too, Dad. I'll be back in a bit."

Paul shoots out through the back, heading for the seclusion of the woods where he phases. I follow him with my eyes. I've never actually seen him phase but I have seen him in his wolf form and it still amazes me that such a giant creature fits into my son. Although, come to think of it, he isn't exactly a normal sized 16-year-old teenage boy himself. I listen for the howl Paul sends us as soon as he phases, his way of letting us know he's deep in the woods. As I stare off in the direction of his retreating back I'm instead greeted with the sight of a tall, dark silver wolf emerging just barely from among the branches and tree stumps. It's Paul and even though it's hard to tell, I think I see a smile on his wolf face. I say a quick prayer for him as he retreats back to the woods to run.

I smile to myself as I prepare to wash the dishes. My son may be a teenage wolf who refuses to tell his sister his secret, but he's a good man and I respect him for his decision to keep her in the dark, even if I may not agree with it.

Yes, life is good indeed.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:** Reviews are always nice so a big thank you to Arianmaiden (my first reviewer!), Sam, DancerInTheRye, and belfast girl for taking the time to do so. Also to everyone who has added me to their story/author alerts and favorite story/author lists. It means a lot!

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

"Hello? Earth to Stacy!" Sierra waves her chubby hands in front of my face, her brown eyes wide as she takes in my blank expression. Crap, she must have been talking to me. "Did you even hear a single word I just said?"

I desperately want to respond with a convincing 'Yes, I heard everything' but I have a feeling the dazed expression on my face is a dead giveaway to the truth. Thankfully our third period science teacher has been out with the flu all week and so we've had a substitute who knows nothing about science other than how plants grow. As a result, our only work all week has been to read random chapters out of the textbook while the substitute plays solitaire on her laptop at the teacher's desk. Looking around the room, it's clear Sierra and I are not the only ones not doing the assigned reading on plant cells. Next to me a group of guys rate the cheerleaders according to hotness while across the room a crowd of girls giggle over the cuteness of the guys. I sigh; high school can be so predictable sometimes.

Truthfully, I haven't been able to pay attention to anything since last week when my parents gave me the okay to go to the dance with Seth, substitute teacher or not. My parents usually go along with what Paul suggests when it comes to me so when he objected to my going with Seth to the dance, I thought for sure that was it. Looking back, I realize I might have overreacted slightly but I was too upset to clearly think about my behavior. I was just about to call Seth and tell him that I couldn't go with him when my mom came in to tell me the good news. I know I should feel bad that Paul was so upset he had to go for a run, but I just can't bring myself to bust out of my happy bubble. What really gets me though, is how I know Paul's reasoning for not wanting me to go was such a blatant lie. I think it was clear to everyone at the table that his objections were about a lot more than just believing I was too young to date; he was clearly picking at straws to find an excuse. More than that, I saw the sideways glances he gave my parents, attempting to get them to draw significance from an unspoken conversation. When I asked my mom about the looks at the dinner table she pretended to not know what I was talking about.

I've known for a little while my family has been hiding something from me and I can only guess that it has something to do with Paul's random disappearance for three days last school year. What I don't get is what any of it has to do with Seth.

I look over to Sierra who's still awaiting my answer, her fingernails tapping impatiently on her wooden desk.

"Sorry," I flash her a bright smile, knowing she'll forgive me. "But you have my complete attention now so what's up?"

"The only reason I'm not upset that you're ignoring me is because I assume you're thinking about your date with Seth to the dance. Am I right?" She stares at me questioningly. I blush slightly under her gaze and nod shyly. "Well at least it's not Quil. I mean, I like Quil but Seth is just so much more perfect for you. You guys are going to look great together."

I smile along with her but inside, my mind is spinning at her words. While I do like Seth a lot and have imagined what we would look like as a couple, for some reason, her words strike a chord. Something about hearing what I've been thinking lately said in a voice that isn't my mental one makes me stop. Having someone else notice what I think I've always secretly hoped for makes the image of us all the more real. And for a second, I can see it: Seth and I together as a couple but still acting like our normal selves; us standing together at my front door as he drops me off from a date; receiving a goodbye kiss instead of a bone crushing hug as promises of a phone call the next day are whispered in my ear. I smile at the thought. I like that picture.

Until I come to my senses and realize the picture would have a greater chance of ending with Paul or Embry opening the door and dragging me inside before I got my kiss.

"Oh my goodness woman! You're doing it again!" Sierra huffs out a frustrated breath and throws her hands in the air for dramatic effect. I look at her apologetically. A great thing about Sierra being so boy crazy all the time is that she understands when I get a little too into a guy and can't focus. There's no way she can fault me for being distracted over a guy when she's done the same thing a dozen times.

"I'm sorry! I'm just so excited for the dance." I can't help clapping my hands together, bouncing up and down in my seat. "You know it's my first dance. _And_ this will be my first date even though Paul and his friends will be there too but whatever, it still counts."

"That's exactly what I've been trying to talk to you about for the last ten minutes!" Sierra looks at me for a few moments, undoubtedly wanting to make sure I'm still listening. "Okay good, now that I have your attention for more than ten seconds, I want to talk dresses. Do you think your brother would be willing to drive us to Port Angeles so we could go shopping? We gotta get something before all the good dresses are gone."

"I don't see why not. He'd probably want to come make sure I don't get a dress he deems too slutty or something anyway." If Paul had his way, I'd never leave the house in anything less than a winter jacket, a turtleneck and overlarge jeans. So when it comes to dresses, anything showing even an ankle is too provocative. "I know he's busy with his friends this weekend but I'm sure we could get him to take us next Friday or something. That work for you?"

"Sounds good. This way I can get a great looking dress that will make Paul drool. He'll be so enamored with me he'll drag me away from my date and dance with me all night." She crosses her arms and beams, nodding her head at what her mind has convinced her is a full proof plan.

"Sierra you have a date!" I laugh loudly. Her obsession with my brother is too funny sometimes. "And why would you want to dance with Paul anyway? The poor guy has no rhythm. He looks more like a dog suffering a seizure than a normal human being dancing. It's just sad."

"Oh yeah whatever John's great," she waves off her date. "But he's no Paul." She wags her index finger at me and smirks as if her logic makes sense. "And why isn't your brother going with a date anyway? It's not like he has a lack of options with all the girls throwing themselves at him and his friends."

"I have no idea. When I asked him all he said was there wasn't anybody who held his interest," I shake my head. "I can understand wanting to go to the dance with someone you're actually into, but I think going with three other dateless guys is just strange; I thought only girls did that sort of thing. At least Jared has his girlfriend Kim. Paul is just going to look ridiculous standing against the wall with Jake, Embry, and Quil. Which is a shame for Veronica Whatsherface who has been practically stalking him in hopes that he'll ask her to be his date. I think she thinks that if she annoys him enough he'll cave and ask her. If she wasn't so rude to me the first day of school I'd actually feel bad and help her out."

"That was so funny. Her shoving you so she could clear a path to get to Paul and then the sight of her face when she discovered who you were," Sierra laughs, remembering what became Veronica's downfall in the eyes of my brother. "What a great way to start high school."

"You only find it funny because you haven't had to put up with her kissing your ass ever since." I shove my notebook and untouched textbook in my backpack as the bell rings, signaling the end of third period and the beginning of lunch. "You know she actually offered to do my research paper if I agreed to convince Paul to take her to the dance? I swear, you'd think my brothers were rock stars and not four overgrown children who eat like pigs and snore like a freight train." I shake my head at the rationale of high school girls as we leave the classroom, making our way through the crowded corridor toward my locker.

"Speaking of someone who thinks he's a rock star..." Sierra nods her head in the direction four lockers away from my mine where Sean Cowley is standing with his back to us.

He ended up missing the rest of school last week and appeared on Monday with yellow and purple bruises around his neck. Since being attacked by Embry, he hasn't been within ten feet of me, much less looked in my direction. The rumor around school is that he told his parents and the nurses the strings on his sweatshirt strangled him. The excuse makes no sense but everyone seems to have bought it because Embry hasn't gotten in trouble. I don't understand why he didn't tell on Embry (especially since he had every right to), but I'm extremely grateful for whatever his reasoning. I still feel bad for what happened despite Jake's reassurance that Sean simply got what he deserved.

I toss my backpack in my locker and head toward Sean, intent on apologizing on behalf of Embry and thanking him for not telling. "Hold on a minute Sierra. Stay here, I'll be right back."

"Hey Sean," I say timidly, lightly tapping him on the shoulder. He turns slowly around to meet my eyes, annoyance and anger on his face. "Um, I just wanted to apologize about what happened last week. Embry was out of line; you didn't deserve to get hurt like that. But I really appreciate you not getting him into trouble. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you please let me know."

"You want to know what you can do to make it up to me? How about you get the fuck out of my face? That would be a great place to start." His harsh words surprise me. I expected him to be angry with me, but I didn't expect him to be so rude. "And what makes you think I got hurt? Embry is lucky that old guy jumped in when he did because I was just about to kick some ass."

I'm momentarily tongue-tied as I stare at him in shock. Fortunately, Sierra heard the entire exchange and is anything but speechless.

"Fuck you asshole." She jumps right into his face, shoving him backward against the locker with her hand. "She comes over to apologize to you and you act like a dick to her? You should be grateful Sam showed up when he did otherwise you'd be six feet under right now."

"Yeah whatever. Why don't you and your fat little friend just run along now before you piss me off?" He waves his hand in the direction of my locker, dismissing us from his presence. I'm no longer dumbstruck.

"Yeah, let's go Sierra. Sean 'Teenie-Weenie' Cowley is just butt hurt there's two more girls in this school who will never sleep with him." I loop my left arm through her right and head in the direction of the cafeteria. Sierra laughs, making a small distance between her index finger and thumb in mock of his tiny package as we pass. "Besides, I don't want Sam to have to show up at school again to stop another fight. He might not get here quick enough the second time around."

We stop at the doors to the lunchroom as he calls back to us, anger in every word. "You were never worth my time to begin with. You were just going to be a revenge bang anyway — just another notch on my belt. I'm not afraid of your brother and his punk ass friends."

"Oh no of course you're not afraid of my brother and his friends," I begin as Sierra and I lean against the French doors of the cafeteria, making sure they're wide open so everyone in the room can hear me. "Because you know, pissing your pants and crying like a little girl when they kicked your ass over summer doesn't signify fear at all."

The entire student body laughs uproariously from inside the lunchroom as Sean storms from the school, flipping us off and cursing the entire way out.

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

"Man I am so hungry," Embry whines from the passenger seat of my truck, holding his stomach dramatically as we drive to the grocery store. "I seriously plan on eating at least fifteen hot dogs tonight. No joke."

"Ten bucks says I can eat more than you," I challenge him.

As a sort of reward for not getting into any fights at school this week, Emily has decided to throw a congratulatory barbecue at her and Sam's place. I think she's mocking us more than anything but I'm not fool enough to turn down food.

"Alright, your loss." Embry holds out his hand for me to shake, making the bet official.

I shake his hand, each of us squeezing the other's with an unnatural amount of force. We stare each other down in the middle of the parking lot of the reservation's only grocery store; our hands still clamped tightly together, no emotion on either face. We finally let go upon hearing the crunching of both hands and laugh. A good thing about being a wolf is our advanced healing. Even though I'm positive we each just suffered a fractured hand, it'll be almost completely healed by the time we're done grocery shopping.

"Hmm, I wonder how I'm going to spend my newly won money." Embry taps his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh please, you know it's just going to go to food. It's what we would all spend money on if we had any." We climb out of the truck and head into the small store.

La Push is at least 20 minutes from Forks, the nearest town, so Connweller's Grocery is our only food market unless we feel like a drive. The old, white building has been in Kim's family for generations and she can usually be found working behind the counter. Before Jared imprinted on her we used to make him come in here all the time and laugh as he awkwardly avoided Kim's attempts to flirt with him. Now of course he practically begs Emily to let him do her grocery shopping. She consented for a while, cracking up along with the rest of us when Jared would spring out the door before she could even give him a shopping list. But she had to stop him when he would leave for four loaves of bread and not return for three hours, or until someone went to drag him out — whichever came first. Needless to say, Jared's banned from grocery shopping for Emily until Sam gives him further notice.

"Haha yeah I would. Ten bucks worth of food isn't even a snack but I imagine it would hold me over for at least thirty minutes." We chuckle at the truthfulness of his statement as we enter the store. I don't know if it's because we're constantly running around the woods in our wolf form or because our body is trying to keep up with our growing muscles, but the entire pack eats constantly. Our increased appetite began about a month or two before our first change and hasn't lessened even a little. Thank goodness my parents are super understanding and keep our kitchen fully stocked with food for my friends and me. "So how much do we have to buy exactly?"

"Well it's going to be the entire pack plus Kim and Emily," I count on my fingers as I lead us to the back of the store to the bread and hot dog weenies, "so that's nine people. But each guy can eat for five people so I'm guessing that's about ten bags of hot dog buns and eight packs of hot dog weenies. What do you think?"

"You do realize a penis joke for that statement is just too easy right?" I roll my eyes at his sly smile while stuffing packs of hot dog buns into his open arms. I swear Embry can't go a single hour without making a sex joke. "Hey, I just had to make that clear. Anyway, yeah, I think we should be good. Emily has a bunch of desserts to go with all the food too don't forget."

"How could I? I've been trying to sneak bites of her double fudge cupcakes all day but she keeps catching me." My mouth waters at the memory. "You know, she's small, we shouldn't be as afraid of her as we are."

"Yeah sure man, whatever you say. She may be only human and shorter than all of us, but she still hits pretty hard when she wants to. But try sticking up to her and let me know how it goes. I'll miss you when she rips you to pieces," Embry laughs, whacking me on the back. "Oh dude look, there's Seth Clearwater. Wow he's huge! Sam and Sue weren't exaggerating at all."

I look to the front of the store where Seth is just entering, smiling hello to the employee standing behind the counter. I haven't seen the kid since a few weeks before school started when he came to the house to hangout with Anastasia and if I didn't know about his growth, I probably wouldn't have recognized him. He's grown at least half a foot in a month and his body appears as though he's been working out for years; he looks more our age than his own. I'm happy to see though that his jolly demeanor hasn't left him as he spots us staring at him. He waves a giant hand excitedly, a bright smile on his newly sharply structured face and walks over to our spot by the bread.

"Hey guys what's going on? Long time no see." Face-to-face the change is even more evident. Sam is right — he's extremely close.

"Not much, just picking up some food for a barbecue tonight. What are you up to? Heard you're taking Anastasia to the dance in a few weeks." At the mention of my sister Seth visibly reddens and his eyes alight with excitement. Wow, he must like her a lot more than I thought.

"Yeah I'm pretty excited, it should be a good time. I gotta call her later to find out the details. You know, not only will she not let me wear a tuxedo shirt, but she's also demanding I get her a corsage to match her dress." He shakes his head in amusement, a bright smile still on his face as he thinks of Anastasia.

"Yep, that sounds about right," I chuckle. "She's making me drive her and Sierra down to Port Angeles next weekend to go dress shopping."

"Better yet, you should get her a corsage that matches her bra," Embry winks and chuckles, clearly proud of himself for successfully being a pervert. Asshole. Seth pipes up before I can yell at Embry for thinking of my sister's undergarments.

"Come on man that's not cool. I like Stacy, don't talk about her like that. You know she's not that type of girl." Embry looks at me confused as Seth stares at him sternly. I look back at Seth, as shocked as Embry that Seth just told him off. Embry has been making dirty jokes about my sister since she hit puberty in the seventh grade and I have always been the only one to tell him off for his crudeness. To hear Seth say something speaks volumes about the way he feels about her. I wonder if his feelings will change after he phases. Anastasia would be crushed if they did — she likes him almost as much as he likes her. Then again, if he imprints, he won't have any say in the strictly platonic behavior he'll form toward her. According to Sam and Jared, when a wolf finds their soul mate, all other relationships that aren't connected with the pack just don't seem as important anymore.

"Oh, uh, yeah sure Seth. Sorry, man it was just a joke." Embry tosses me a puzzled look; I stare back at him in surprise. I have literally been kicking Embry's ass for the last two years to get the dirty jokes about Anastasia to stop and all I ever get is a smart remark in response.

"No worries Embry. It's just, you know, I really like Stacy and this dance is important to her so I just want her to have a good time without being sexually harassed by you," he stares pointedly at Embry again who nods his head in understanding. I laugh a little on the inside — I think everybody knows he likes Anastasia except for Anastasia. "But hey I gotta go before my mom comes looking for me. I'll see you guys later."

"Dude that was so weird. He's never said anything when I made jokes about Stacy before," Embry whispers to me behind Seth's retreating back as I continue loading groceries into his arms. "He got angry pretty quick too. And did you notice how huge he was? He could pass more for a high school senior than an eighth grader. Damn, it definitely won't be long now until Emily has another pack brother to feed."

I nod my head in agreement. "Ten bucks says he phases before the end of the month."

"Nah, I'm thinking closer to the second week of November." He holds out his hand again so we can shake on the deal. I grasp his hand in a firm hold but instead of squeezing, I shove him against the back wall and sprint out the door into the cool afternoon air, tossing my head back as I laugh loudly, leaving Embry to foot the bill for all the food.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: **I just couldn't resist posting two chapter tonight :) I hope you enjoy them!

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><p><strong>Quil POV<strong>

"Seriously Sam, why are you making us go to this dance? It's going to be so lame. Besides, Jared's the only one with a girlfriend to please," Jake complains to my right as we stand in the backyard of Sam's house around the small barbecue pit. Sitting against the back wall in plastic lawn chairs, Jared and Kim flip off Jake. But I agree with Jake: this dance is going to suck. Us standing against a poorly decorated wall of the school's gymnasium while Jared and Kim make out in a dark corner is not how I like to spend my nights off from patrol.

"Because I want you guys to be able to do normal high school stuff. Being a wolf doesn't mean you have to give up being normal teenagers. Listen, it's just one night. Go, have a good time, steal some guy's date, whatever. OK?" The rest of the pack, minus Jared, just stares at him. No one wants to go to this dance, least of all Paul. One of the conditions of his sister being able to go with Seth is that Paul goes and if he doesn't go, then she can't. I know nothing would make him happier than knowing she's safe at home with him and not with a dangerous, about-to-phase-for-the-first-time 14-year-old wolf.

"Please guys, go for me. I want you all to have fun," Emily begs sweetly. That was a dirty trick; she knows we have an extremely hard time saying no to her.

Being the Alpha's imprint has made Emily a sort of second mother to the rest of us. She feeds us, cleans our wounds, puts up with our fights, keeps extra pairs of clothes for us, and let's us crash at her house when we need to. But more than that, she's helped all of us tremendously in adjusting to this new life as a wolf. From the very beginning she's encouraged us to ask her for anything we may need and has just overall been available to help in a way Sam can't. While he may be our alpha and is understanding of the difficult transition from normal teenage boy to guardian of La Push, Emily has a mother's ability to take care of us when we can't go to our own parents and sometimes, a mother's understanding is exactly what we need. As a result, she can get us to do just about anything she wants.

She continues to smile warmly as we glare at her. Eventually everyone nods their head in defeat while Sam smiles and kisses Emily on the forehead. Cheaters.

"Besides, I need you all to look out for Seth. It's been almost a month since he started showing hints of his upcoming change and he could explode any moment. And Paul isn't Stacy going to the dance with him? I would have thought you'd want to be there to watch out for her in case something happens." He finishes his eighth hot dog and looks at Paul puzzled.

"Of course I do! What the hell are you implying?" Paul roars, fists clenched at his sides, trembling with fury. Ever since William said Stacy could go to the dance with Seth, Paul has been on edge. Any mention of the dance and he gets angry.

I smirk to my left at Embry and hold out my hand for the five bucks he owes me; I knew betting that Paul would get mad before sundown was an easy way to make some extra cash. Embry grudgingly slaps the money into my outstretched palm, mumbling bitterly about Paul's anger issues. I mouth a 'thank you' and return to eating my ninth hot dog. It's funny how winning easy cash makes everything taste better.

"Paul, I'm not implying anything. Calm down, it was just a question," Sam soothes, motioning with his hands for Paul to relax. He growls one last time before the tightening in his jaw loosens. "I just think it would be a good thing to have five wolves there just as a precaution. At this point anything could set him off and you all know the warning signs. It will just be safer for everyone if you guys are there, this way if something does happen you can drag him out before people notice."

"If he does phase at the dance where should we bring him?" I ask, thinking back to my own transformation.

It was an early Saturday morning over summer and my grandfather had come into my room to wake up so I could help him lift something. The next thing I know I'm leaping from my bed and growling at him. I could hear my bones cracking loudly and I screamed out from the extreme pain as they expanded and morphed. My clothes ripped from my body and I remember looking into the mirror on my wall, expecting to see me naked and was instead greeted with the sight of a giant brown wolf. The last thing I saw before I leapt through my bedroom window was my grandfather leaning against the doorframe, his old wooden cane thrown on the floor, one hand over his heart and the other holding the phone to his ear, speaking hurriedly to someone I couldn't hear on the other end. It wasn't until later when Jake and the rest of the guys discovered me deep in the woods that I found out he was talking to Sam, letting him know what had happened. I know it wasn't necessarily my fault, but I still feel guilty for growling at my grandfather and almost giving him a heart attack. I think if he hadn't already known that I was going to phase, the sight of me as an animal would have killed him right there in my bedroom. The pain and shock from the entire experience is unavoidable but in spite of what I know, I still hope it's easier for Seth.

"Well I'll be running patrols that night so I'll hear him and be able to give him some insight, at least enough to get him to my house. If not then call the house and Emily will be able to get a hold of me. But someone should change with him, definitely, and make sure he gets here. Actually, I want you all to change. We'll do everything as a pack." We nod our head in understanding. The closeness of our pack is something we're all proud of. Even before we phased Jake, Embry, Paul and I were the best of friends but running together as a pack with Sam and Jared helped cement all six of us forever as family. "Seth seems to really trust you, Paul, and he's close with your sister so I'm putting you in charge of getting him to my house. And Kim, I'm going to want you to stay with Stacy, make sure she gets home and doesn't suspect anything."

"Okay but what should I tell her? I mean Seth phasing will be similar to how Paul phased for the first time and you know she's never forgotten that."

We all glance at Sam, wondering the same thing. It's no secret Stacy is suspicious about us and especially about the three days Paul vanished when he phased. He never told her what happened and we all wish he would. Stacy and Paul are extremely close and I know it's killing him to not share the biggest secret of his life with her. His fear of dragging her into this strange world filled with mythical creatures is what's stopping him; afraid she'll shun him or worse, be hurt because she knows our secret. A part of all of us can't blame him for his reasoning because Stacy is such an integral part of his life but the other part wishes he would give in already. Making up excuses as to why we shake or wear only a pair of cutoff shorts in freezing temperatures is getting harder and harder to make believable. She's not stupid, she knows we're hiding something from her and when she finds out, she's going to be more upset Paul hid something from her than about the secret itself.

"Say whatever you have to in order for her to remain calm. Tell her the guys noticed he was about to puke or something and then take her home. Explain to William and Leila what happened, they'll be able to keep her distracted." Kim acknowledges Sam's orders and goes back to cuddling against Jared's side.

"Sam, sweetie, don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself?" Emily questions, walking carefully down the back steps with a giant silver tray filled to the breaking point with brownies, cookies and muffins. "You're acting as if it's already set that he'll change at the dance. For all you know it could be another month until he changes."

"He better not phase until next month," Embry manages to get out despite a mouthful of desserts. I swear he has the worst manners ever. "I have money riding on it."

"I would rather be safe than sorry. I feel it's better to have a plan than to have him phase and no one be prepared," Sam responds, ignoring Embry's remark.

He wraps his arms around Emily's waist and together they stand, staring into each other's eyes, forgetting the rest of the pack is around. She reaches one hand up to stroke his cheek and smiles, communicating through her touch her love for him. Sam's face lights up at the gesture and he kisses the inside of her palm. Between Sam and Emily and Jared and Kim, a person would think every day is Valentine's Day around here. Sam will drop almost anything at the request of Emily and I've even seen him hold off eating because she asked him to wait for her. Jared says he understands completely but the rest of us can't even begin to imagine holding off a meal for anyone. Embry, for one, will rip a person's hand off if it gets in the way of his feeding and Paul almost fought a kid once because he took the last hamburger in the lunch line at school. The poor little guy nearly wet himself when he caught the menacing look in Sweets' eyes. It's a good thing Kim was there to give Paul her hamburger before things got out of control. I sigh loudly; I guess you'd just have to have imprinted to fathom the devotion and love that naturally emotes from them.

A slight cough comes from Jake, effectively breaking up the "moment" between Sam and Emily. He kisses her softly once on the lips and turns back to the rest of us, hands still placed on either side of her waist from behind. "So, uh, yeah. Everyone know what they need to do then?"

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><p><strong>Sierra POV<strong>

I love my best friend Stacy and all, but she really needs to get over this whole Quil obsession and realize just how perfect her and Seth would be together. I'm no expert on relationships — having never been in one myself — but if there were ever a pair of people who could go from high school sweethearts to lifelong husband and wife, it would be Seth and Stacy. Watching the two of them interact with each other, a person would have to be blind to not notice the mutual interest. The way his face brightens up at the mere mention of her name, how they unconsciously follow each other with their eyes, the subtle touches they think no one notices — if I didn't know any better, I'd think they were already dating.

When Stacy's around Seth, there's something different about her. She is in no way like Paul in terms of being extremely temperamental, but the overall presence of Seth brings her this unnatural sense of calm. I don't know if she's ever realized it, but when she's around him, her face becomes so serene and nothing has even the slightest chance of upsetting her. I really like Quil, I honestly do. Overall he's a really great guy and, like the rest of Paul's friends, would do anything to make sure no harm comes to my best friend, but Seth meshes so well with Stacy in a way I can't explain. Stacy and Quil would look all right together, but even Paul can see that Seth and Stacy would look perfect together. Those two know each other inside and out so while his crush on Stacy might be puppy love right now, if given time, it has the potential to grow into something so much more meaningful.

"So who's this guy you're going to the dance with Sierra?" Seth asks from across the living room where he's taking up the entire couch. His huge brown hands gently play with Stacy's pitch-black hair from her position on the floor in front of him.

"His name's John and he's a sophomore." I drape my legs over the armrest of the black recliner I'm stretched over. "He's a nice guy. Cute I guess, but he's no Paul. He'll be a fun date though I hope."

I know people have always spoken of love at first sight, but I honestly believe that I fell in love with Paul William Chehalis the moment I laid eyes on him. Oddly enough, it was also the first day of Stacy's and my friendship. We were five and playing in the sandbox together at the elementary school when Paul came to get her because their mom was waiting for them in the car. Consequently, that was also the day I stopped believing boys had cooties. Since then, I have only grown to like Paul more and more. Sure he's a hothead at times and his over protectiveness of Stacy can get in the way of our fun at the least opportune moment, but the sight of him shirtless more than makes up for any hard feelings I may harbor when he tells us no. His rock hard abs, those long muscled arms and that dark sculpted chest — shit he can get me to do anything as long as he's shirtless when he asks. A smirk unwillingly forms on my lips and my eyes close in a lazy manner as I imagine the most beautiful man I have ever laid sight on.

"Uh-oh Seth, now you've done it!" Stacy giggles from her spot on the floor.

"Done what? What's wrong with her? All I did was ask about her date to the dance." Seth looks between Stacy and I, clearly under the impression that I've gone insane.

"You got her thinking about my brother shirtless." Stacy's laughter increases as I continue to think about the best image possible: Paul, a bottle of chocolate sauce, a can of whipped cream and me. My own Paul sundae. "She's going to have that stupid look on her face for a little bit. Just give her a minute."

"Um, okay." Seth shoots me one more puzzled look before turning his undivided attention back to Stacy. "Oh and you need to let me know what color your dress is, since you know, you're making me get you a matching corsage." He rolls his eyes, attempting to seem bugged by this minor detail. If I have Seth pegged correctly the way I think I do, he's actually beyond excited to do something that will make Stacy so happy. I attempt to stifle a snort under my breath.

"Oh hush. You know you're excited about this dance." She turns around to face Seth completely and nudges him in the shoulder. I look over just in time to see a smile stretch across his face from the contact. Predictable. "And Paul is taking Sierra and I shopping next week so I'll let you know then. All I can tell you right now is that the dance starts at 8:30 so you gotta be here by at least 7:45 so we can take photos. Paul will drive us from here."

"Alright I'll be here." He glances at his cell phone, checks the time and jumps up from the couch. "Oh shoot I gotta go. Leah's going to eat my dinner again if I don't get home soon. I know she's a teenage girl and all, but I swear she can eat more than any guy I know. Stacy, call me when you know more. I'll see you guys later."

"Okay, bye Seth," Stacy chirps out excitedly after Seth's retreating back, waving a small hand as he flies out the front door. I laugh loudly as the door closes, Stacy seating herself on the now-empty couch.

"'Okay, bye Seth,'" I mock in Stacy's voice. "My goodness woman can you be more in love with him?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not 'in love' with Seth Clearwater. I mean yeah he's cute but ..." She cuts off her sentence upon noticing the critical look on my face. Stacy and I have been best friends since we were five, if she thinks she can pull a fast one on me she most definitely has another thing coming. "Ugh, I don't know what I feel. When I'm not with him, I'm super into Quil but the moment I even think of Seth, nothing else can enter my mind. Like okay, we've always had a flirty relationship right? But lately it's felt like more than just flirting. I can't explain it but I just feel so ... connected with him, like some invisible rope is pulling me to him and nothing can go wrong as long as he's with me. That doesn't make sense. Does it make sense?" She pulls her head up from its position in her hands, a look of complete helplessness on her face. Wow, she's got it worse than I thought. I rush over to sit next to her on the couch, throwing my left arm over her thin shoulders. "I'm going crazy aren't I?"

"No, you're not going crazy but damn Stace, that's pretty intense. For starters, do you think Seth feels the same way?" I'm almost afraid to ask her this question for fear that she'll break down in a fit of self-consciousness.

"The strange thing is, I think he does." A confused look crosses her normally bright face and her hazel eyes narrow in uncertainty. "But maybe not as strongly as me? I don't know for sure because it's not like we've ever talked about our strange relationship to being with. I mean we act more like a couple than a pair of friends so that's gotta count for something right?"

"Well I would think so seeing as how he can't ever keep his eyes off you. Sweetie he's obviously into you as more than a friend and he must have good intentions because Paul and crew haven't attempted to rip his face off yet," I try to comfort, even though I'd be just as lost if our positions were switched. I'm awarded a small smile for my crack at Paul's goal to keep all boys away from her. In part, the joke is only funny because it's so incredibly true. "Look, why don't you just talk to him about all of this? You guys have always been extremely close, I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what's going on. But take a few weeks to get your head straight and decide what _you_ want before talking to Seth. Okay?"

"Yeah you're right. I'll talk to him after the dance. What would I do without you?" A smile returns to her face as we give each other a hug.

"Be stuck with a shitty best friend who is not even nearly as cool as I am," I retort.

"Yeah but at least then I'd have a best friend who doesn't have creepy thoughts about my brother. Hopefully," she laughs, pushing me into the couch. I stick my tongue out at her in response. Hey, Paul's hot. There's just no getting around that. "But seriously though, did you get a good look at Seth's muscles? God he's gotten so hot lately."

"Who's gotten hot lately?" Paul asks, looking seriously between Stacy and me as he enters the living room, Jake following behind him after closing the front door.

"Me. Don't you think Paul?" I answer sweetly, batting my eyelashes and flashing him a bright smile.

I never miss a chance to flirt with Paul, especially since he looks so cute when he's awkward. He stares at me open mouthed for a moment, attempting to catch his composure while I take a quick glance at Stacy, asking her with my eyes how the hell we're going to get out of this one. He may be stunned now, but it'll only be a matter of seconds before he realizes we're hiding something. Normally Paul and his friends are so loud when they approach the house, always laughing and shoving one another, that it's impossible not to hear them coming. We must have been too caught up in our conversation about Seth to hear Jake and Paul approaching this time.

"What's that Mom?" Stacy yells, her right hand cupped over her ear as if strenuously listening for her mom's voice. "You want Sierra and I to go to my room? Kay no problem. C'mon Sierra, let's go." She grabs my hand in a rush, pulling me up the stairs as I stumble in her wake.

"See you guys later," I call down to Paul and Jake, still standing in the entryway of the living room, confusion etched in their features. I bust out in loud laughter as Stacy finally yanks me into her bedroom, slamming the door in a hurry before Paul follows us. "Ooh Paul is so going to grill you later on that one!" I manage out over my laughter as I flop on my back onto her bed.

"Yeah well your laughter certainly didn't help anything," she says, throwing a pillow from her bed at my head. I roll to the side and barely miss getting hit. "Come on, let's look at dresses online so we have an idea of what we want for next week. Hopefully I can manage something with a halter without Paul throwing too big of a hissy fit in the store."

We both look at each and crack up all over again, knowing that whatever she chooses Paul will still throw a tantrum.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: **How is it that I have more hits/visitors to Chapter 8 than Chapter 7? Haha are you guys skipping a chapter? Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing! Enjoy the chapter!

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

"Shopping time! Come on, let's go before all the good dresses are taken!" Sierra yells from the front door where she let herself in. Our house has always had an "open door" policy when it comes to our friends so when we're home during the day the front door is never locked and it's not unusual to come down the stairs and see Sierra or one of Paul's friends lounging on the couch or eating in the kitchen. "Oh good morning Mrs. Chehalis. Are you coming shopping with us too?"

"No, William and I are just going to spend the day together lounging about," my mom responds from her seat at the table next to me where she's carefully sipping her coffee and reading the paper. I smile as I see the cup she's drinking from: it's the bright green cup Paul and I got her for Mother's Day when I was six. The scribbled "We Love You" has faded and all but disappeared in some parts from constant use. "It's so rare to have both the kids out so we're hoping to take advantage of it."

"Oh gee thanks Mom. Glad to know we're an annoyance," I joke, walking my bowl of cereal to the sink.

"Truth hurts doesn't it sweetie?" Mom laughs. "So, where do you plan on shopping?"

"Well all we need are dresses so I think we'll just go to a few stores in Port Angeles. Between us we have heels and jewelry that will go with anything. Plus Port Angeles is close and Sierra and I know our way around well enough so Paul and Jake don't have to stay with us the entire time." My mom smirks at me. It really doesn't matter how I explain it because my mom knows the truth: we don't WANT Paul and Jake with us the entire time.

"Alright well have a good time and be careful, make sure you watch your surroundings," she warns, getting up from her seat to pour herself another cup of coffee. "Just because you know the area doesn't make it safe. And make sure you bundle up; it's cold outside and the weatherman said there's a possibility of rain today."

"Don't worry Mom, Jake and I will watch out for them," Paul says, walking into the kitchen, Jake following closely behind. "We better get going you two, I want to be back before it gets dark and you both take forever to shop."

We wave goodbye to our mom before stepping out into the brisk Saturday morning air. I unconsciously pull my jacket tighter over my thin body as I look up into the dark, sunless sky and shiver slightly, watching as my hot breath mingles with the cold air to make clouds. Man, it's a lot colder than I anticipated. I look over to Sierra to see her also holding her arms around her for warmth and then glance over to Paul and Jake, my mouth open slightly. Here Sierra and I are freezing and these two are dressed in only a light sweater and a pair of jeans. Looking closer, they also seem to be sweating slightly, moisture building slowly on each of their foreheads. Sierra catches my eye and I point her in the direction of my gaze with a nod of my head as we pile into the backseat of Jake's car. She follows my path, her eyes popping wide and her mouth hanging open with shock as she registers what I have: they're insane.

Sierra and I sit in the backseat in silence, listening to Jake and Paul laugh over another one of Embry's stupid antics as we pull onto the freeway, heading east to downtown Port Angeles. Our teeth simultaneously chatter slightly as the guys roll down their windows in the front, the cold morning air hitting our faces roughly.

"Are you guys crazy?" Sierra exclaims from beside me, behind Jake. Paul turns around in the passenger seat, looking at her with confusion. Jake does the same through the rearview mirror, his dark brown eyes scrunched together. "It's freaking freezing outside and you're both only wearing a sweater and a pair of jeans! And Paul are you sweating?" She reaches forward with her right hand and strokes his forehead, wiping away the perspiration. Shock flashes across his face, presumably from her actions.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I was helping Jake move some furniture around for his dad. So, uh, that's why I'm sweating." He spins back around, turning up the volume to the radio. I notice he doesn't respond to Sierra's initial comment about his clothing as he glances out of the corner of his eye to Jake who is visibly straining not to laugh. Paul's left fist reaches out to jab Jake in the arm.

"Okay fine but can you please roll the windows back up?" I yell desperately over the thumping music blaring form the speakers, rubbing my hands up and down my arms for warmth. "Not all of us were lifting heavy furniture this morning. And in case you two haven't noticed, Sierra and I are turning into ice blocks back here!"

"Oh shit," Jake says, finally realizing that Sierra and I aren't two overgrown men who can put up with this kind of weather. They immediately roll up their individual windows, shooting us sheepish grins. "Sorry guys. Forgot you were in the car for a moment. Here, I'll turn on the heater for a little bit, help you guys thaw out."

Sierra and I lean toward the middle of the car, enjoying the warm blast of air shooting from the front. Jake and Paul turn their vents so they're aimed in our direction and I smile lazily as the heat hits my cool face. A few more minutes of this and I could easily fall asleep.

"So I think we should hit Lulu's first," Sierra says after we have both warmed up enough to take off our jackets, pivoting in her seat to face me. She scrunches up her face in annoyance as the seatbelt restrains her from sitting to the side comfortably. I laugh slightly. "I think they're more likely to have the kind of dresses we want. Plus they're usually cheaper than some of the other places which is an added bonus."

"Exactly what kind of dresses are you two looking for?" Jake asks, cocking an eyebrow at us through the rearview mirror as he merges into the fast lane on the freeway.

"Oh you know. Just cute party dresses," I respond nonchalantly, hoping against hope Jake will drop the issue. What I really want is this really pretty strapless black party dress I saw online. It would end just above my knees and the white satin ribbon around the middle would look great with this pair of white heels I got for Christmas last year. Paul would flip if he saw the dress but if I hide it from him until the dance there's nothing he can do about it.

"I don't like the sound of 'cute party dresses,'" Paul says wearily, turning down the radio and facing me so that he can join the conversation fully. Crap, this is exactly what I was afraid of and from the smirk on Jake's face, this reaction from Paul is exactly what he was hoping for. Jerk. "Exactly what kind of party dresses are you looking for Anastasia? Maybe Jake and I should go with you guys in the stores after all. I still don't know if I'm okay with you two shopping around town by yourselves."

"No you can't!" Sierra and I shout in unison.

"And why not?" Paul asks, his tone laced with suspicion. His eyes narrow as he surveys the expression on our faces, looking between Sierra and I. Damn, this was definitely not the mood I wanted Paul to be in, especially since I'm already going to get crap for the dress I hope to get. I rack my brain for an excuse but thankfully Sierra is quicker.

"Because you guys are going to get so bored after like an hour. We want to be able to shop in peace without two overgrown babies pestering us to hurry up all afternoon." Yes! That was a good excuse. "Plus you know you're both going to get hungry and we're not stopping to eat."

"She's got a point Sweets," Jake agrees from the driver's seat. I mouth a 'thank you' behind Paul's back; Jake nods in understanding. He may enjoy getting me in trouble with my brother every once in a while but he's also been known to help me out when Paul aims to foil my fun. "I'm starving right now and there's no way in hell I'm going a whole afternoon without eating. I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Yeah you guys can go eat while we shop." I latch onto the idea quickly while Paul is still on the fence. "Sierra and I both have our phones on us, they're fully charged and you can check in on us whenever you want. Sound good?"

Paul sits for a moment in silence, thinking. I can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he weighs each option. If he comes shopping with us, then he will have to sit for hours as Sierra and I try on dress after dress. And trust me, if he comes along I will make dress shopping as painful as possible for him. On top of that, he'd also have to put up with Jake whining every few minutes about how hungry he is. But if he leaves us alone, there's a greater chance we'll finish early, something I know he wants. He takes one last glance at me and I can tell I've won. I give him an innocent smile.

"Fine, you can go by yourselves," he grumbles out. "But I want you to call me each time you go to a different store so I know where you are. And I don't want you wandering off to other streets, stay in the main part of downtown. We'll get there at eleven-thirty; you have until four to find the dresses you want. That's my only offer. Deal?"

Sierra and I nod excitedly, quickly accepting his terms before he changes his mind. Either Paul is super hungry himself or he's going soft — he caved way too easily. He turns around again in his seat to face the front, once again raising the volume on the stereo, effectively ending the conversation. Jake smirks and winks at me through the rearview mirror; I smile back.

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

I know I made an agreement with Anastasia to let her and Sierra go shopping on their own today, but I'm still not very thrilled with the idea. Sure they've both been to Port Angeles enough times to know their way around downtown, but so much can happen. My parents think my constant objections to allowing her to go out by herself is really just my way of keeping her the same little girl I've always taken care of but it's also a lot more than that.

It's true that I have a hard time accepting the fact that she's growing up, but just because she is doesn't mean I'm not still going to fight like hell to keep her away from the creatures I know are out there. I'm still in shock that my parents are so okay with her going to the dance with Seth despite the possibility of him phasing at the drop of a hat. I downright almost died of surprise when they told me to let Anastasia and Sierra go shopping by their selves. Knowing what they know, I would have expected them to be a lot more weary about letting her wander around downtown without me beside her. Sometimes I think they count on me a little too much, having full confidence in the fact that because I'm a wolf designed to kill vampires I can prevent a single one from even laying eyes on her. Naturally I would do everything in my power to prevent that, but sometimes, a little help from them would be nice. I may be able to phase into a large, fierce wolf, but I'm also just a 16-year-old high school kid and I can only do so much.

"Okay, so you both have your phones on and the ringer up loud right?" I ask the girls as Jake parallel parks into a spot on the street. I chuckle as he hits the curb with his back tire. Rookie. "I'm going to be shit pissed if we try to call and you guys don't answer."

I push the passenger seat forward and hold open the door as the girls climb out of the backseat, zipping up their jackets and putting on their warm hats. I still can't believe Jake and I forgot to bring heavy jackets for this little trip to keep people from wondering why we're not cold in this weather. Because our natural body temperature is now at approximately 108 degrees, we're not as affected by the cold air like normal people. So while most people around town are bundled up in hats, jackets and scarves, Jake and I only feel the need for a light sweater, and even wearing those have made us sweat a little bit. I guess I'm just lucky neither of the girls cared enough to push the subject further after my lame excuse about moving furniture. But I did catch a glimpse of the disbelieving look in Anastasia's face. She knows I was lying and even worse, she knows I purposely avoided Sierra's comment about why we're only wearing a sweater and jeans. I hate keeping such an important part of my life from her but I feel this is the only way to keep her safe; she's tied enough as it is to this dangerous world with me as her brother. The only consolation is that because I'm her brother, I can protect her far better than she would be if I had never phased.

I want her to have the normal teenage life I won't ever be able to fully experience or enjoy. I want Anastasia's only worries to be about her grades and if her nail polish matches her outfit, not whether the next time I leave the house to fight a vampire will be the last time she sees me. Our entire pack prides itself on our fighting skills and our strength. Outwardly, we're not afraid of any disgusting leech that dares to enter our territory. Our confidence actually borders on cocky. But inside, where no one can hear our thoughts except for our fellow pack brothers, we acknowledge the frightening fact that taking on a blood sucker is a fight for life: ours, theirs, and the millions of people who don't even know they exist outside of horror films.

Yeah, she's definitely better off without that weight on her shoulders too.

"Yes, Paul, geez, we'll be fine," Anastasia huffs out, rolling her eyes. She's clearly frustrated with me but if she knew my reasoning, she'd understand. But since I'd rather put up with her irritation than tell her the truth, I just smile at her. "Now you two run along and go eat. We're going to start out at Lulu's down the street and we'll call you if we switch stores."

I give her a hug goodbye. "Okay, fine. But be careful. I'll call you in a little bit."

"Damn, what the hell is up with your brother? He's being crazier than usual. Why is he so freaking antsy today?" Sierra asks once they think I'm out of earshot. Technically I shouldn't be able to hear them considering they're way down the block at the corner but Sierra's never been a quiet speaker to begin with.

"Ugh, I don't know. It must be the weather or something," Anastasia responds, shaking her head.

In part, the weather is giving me some reason to worry. I was hoping for a miracle today, praying we'd get sunny skies instead of dark clouds because it's less likely a leech would show up in the middle of downtown if the sun was shining bright. Sadly, sunlight doesn't kill them but it does make them sparkle abnormally, causing them to stand out. But since there's not even a hint of the sun possibly coming out today, a vampire could easily walk down the street and no one would be any the wiser. I growl automatically, disgusted they even walk this Earth.

"Come on Sweets, chill out," Jake sighs, slapping me on the back in good nature. "They'll be fine. They're not leaving this four block radius and we'll be right here eating so we can get to them quickly if need be. Let's eat, I'm starving."

I take one last look at the girls as they cross the street, heads thrown back in laughter, and sigh. 'They'll be okay,' I repeat to myself as I head into the diner to join Jake who's already seated at a booth near the front door, menu propped open.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN:** Thanks for reading and reviewing. I have to say that Chapter 11 is my favorite chapter (so far) but I want you guys to (hopefully) enjoy this chapter first. Can you guys who makes an appearance? :)

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><p><strong>Jake POV<strong>

I don't get why the hell Sweets is so damn worried about the girls going shopping by themselves today. It's been two and a half hours and he's already called Stacy five times to check in. He started panicking after the first half hour when she didn't call, assuming that she had gone to a different store and didn't tell him.

Paul may have a younger teenage sister but he doesn't know shit about girls and their shopping habits. Especially when it comes to shopping for a dance or a date. I remember getting dragged to the stores by my mom whenever my twin sisters, Rachel and Rebecca, would need to go dress shopping. I was literally in hell, sitting in a chair for three hours straight as they tried on every dress they saw, 'oohing' and 'aahing' over the color and the style. As a result, I am the master at the waiting game. I wouldn't be surprised if Stacy and Sierra spent their entire time in one store and came out empty handed.

I peek a look at Sweets from over my giant bacon cheeseburger and sigh as he stares absently out the window. I recognize that look: he's thinking about calling the girls again.

"They can't still be in that same store can they? I mean it's been two and a half hours!" He picks up his phone from the tabletop and checks to see that he hasn't missed their call. "Well they didn't call me. Did they call your phone? Check."

"Seriously Paul, you're really starting to kill my appetite. I didn't think that was possible." I drop my burger on the plate a little too roughly, causing french fries drenched in ketchup to soar across the table. "Dude, they're girls okay? They can honestly be in that one store the entire time we're in Port Angeles and not find anything. It's just how they work. Stacy said she would call and she will. Now leave her alone and eat your damn food before I do."

"Sorry man it's just ... I don't know. With the clouds all dark and everything," he whispers, leaning closer to me over the small diner table, "it's just the perfect opportunity for a blood sucker to be roaming about. Hasn't that thought crossed your mind at all today?"

I look out the restaurant window to my right and up to the dark, sunless sky. Truthfully, they have been on my mind every second of every day since the moment I found out about leeches. Their pale, granite, ice skin and red, lifeless eyes are burned into my eyelids every time I close my eyes. Paul knows this (as do all my pack brothers) because it's the same for them too. I know Sam has urged us to retain a somewhat normal life despite our responsibilities, but how do you not change when the last thing you see before you drift off to sleep every night is a murderous vampire?

"Of course it's been on my mind! When are leeches not on my mind?" I let out a blast of air, attempting to calm myself down. I realize he's just worried about Stacy, but I find it offensive for him to even suggest that I'm not thinking about those filthy parasites. "Listen, I know you're just worried, but you need to chill out. Should something happen, you're no use to anybody so agitated. Besides, their scent is so horrible anyway we'd smell them in a heartbeat."

"Yeah you're right. Sorry Jake," he apologizes, running his hand over his face wearily. "I'm just stressed out with this whole Seth thing you know? I just can't wait till he phases, then she can go back to hanging out with him like she used to. When he's not on patrol that is. Or at a pack meeting. Or when he's exceptionally angry. Or during the extra hours he'll be sleeping. Actually, I'm just going to set up a schedule for them to hangout, make it easy."

We laugh lightheartedly as his list continues because we know exactly what Seth is going to have to go through. When Paul first changed, Embry, Quil and I were furious, convinced he had ditched us to hangout with Sam whom at the time we believed was starting some kind of gang. Quil and I were again crushed when Embry phased and starting hanging out with Sam as well, not understanding that they were with Sam for a reason. I can only imagine what it was like for Quil when I changed, stuck all alone while his three best friends ignored him for reasons he didn't understand. At least the four of us were reunited in the end; Seth is going to have to shield a lot from Stacy whom I know he considers one of his best friends. For the most part, he will still be able to hangout with her like he always has and that will be a good thing for him; it'll help him in preserving that normalcy Sam is always raving about. But at the same time, a lot of things will have to change: he won't be able to confide in her everything he does now, he won't be able to hangout with her all day every day because of patrol and pack duties, and if he imprints, he won't care for her the way he does now, something I know would be a pretty big blow to Stacy.

"Speaking of being around their disgusting smell," Paul begins conversationally. I know where this is headed and my stomach automatically clenches. "Have you talked to Bella lately? Is she still with that parasite?"

I close my eyes and tighten my jaw, ripping the napkin to shreds underneath the table. Bella Swan is a touchy subject for me, as all the guys know. Bella, the daughter of my dad's best friend, moved here about a year ago and began dating that parasite Edward Cullen. She knows what he is and yet she still chooses to be with him — the whole thing repulses me. Her and I became quick friends when she first moved here, but our relationship has been almost nonexistent since I phased and learned that vampires are real. I sigh inwardly because I know that I could offer her so much more than he ever could: A family, love ... life.

"As far as I know," I respond curtly, "but it's not as if we talk all the time anymore. She thinks she can have it both ways: be friends with me and be with him. We're sworn enemies! What about that doesn't she get?"

I slam my fist down on the table. A loud boom echoes around the diner as the table cracks slightly; families in the surrounding booths turn around from their meals and cast me odd glares, clearly upset for disturbing their peaceful lifestyles. Whatever. If they knew what I know and had to live the life I do, they'd react the same damn way.

"She understands it, she's just a selfish brat," Paul says, draining his soda. I growl at his stab to Bella's character. She may be a fool for being with Cullen, but she's not a brat and she's definitely not selfish. I'm pissed at her and can't understand her actions, but I'd still do anything for her. "Whatever man, I've never liked her and you know that. She leads you on, flirts with you and makes you feel like you've got a shot but as soon as that bloodsucker comes along, poof! Then all of a sudden she's super innocent, completely in love with him and you're back in the friend zone. She's all bullshit."

"Yeah, well, all the same, don't talk about her like that," I frown at Paul. "I know none of you guys like her but she's still a friend of mine and my dad's best friend's daughter."

"Sure, sure. If that's the way you want it." Sweets throws up his hands in defeat and immerses himself in his lunch for the first time all afternoon.

"Can I get you two handsome boys anything else?" the waitress asks kindly upon approaching our table. She's a short, older lady with her grey hair pulled back into a messy bun and a wide smile on her oval shaped face. Sweets and I smirk at each other — she's been making comments like this since we got here and we find it hilarious. She reminds both of us of Paul's old neighbor, Mrs. Crawley, who died a few years ago. She too was a shorter woman with a spunky personality and a great humor.

"Yeah can I get a chocolate shake please Suzanne?" I ask, smiling widely at her. "Oh and the check when you get a chance."

"Anything for you good lookin'! One check and one chocolate shake coming right up!" Suzanne winks and picks up our plates, brushing my left bicep as she reaches past, laughing to herself for her cleverness as she walks away. Sweets and I simply shake our heads at her boldness and each pull out money to hand to her when she gets back.

"Man I almost think she would have given old Mrs. Crawley a run for her money," Sweets comments behind her retreating back.

"Seriously. Hey you remember that time she wolf-whistled at your dad when he bent over to get the morning paper?" I laugh, thinking back to the way Mr. Chehalis had turned bright red with embarrassment and ran back inside.

"Yeah that was the best!" Sweets roars with laughter, holding his stomach in amusement and thumping his palm down on the table. "Dad refused to get the morning paper after that happened. He's pretty much convinced her ghost roams around next door and still sends my mom out in the morning to get it."

We're still laughing loudly, tears in our eyes, when three teenage girls walk in the front door and past our booth, bringing with them a faint, sweet scent from outside — a smell too sweet for our sensitive wolf noses. Paul and I scrunch up our faces in unison automatically, disgusted by the stench, and look each other square in the eyes as recognition dawns upon us. No human bears a fragrance that sweet and that intense; there's only one thing on this Earth that does: vampires.

"ANASTASIA!" Paul and I shout in unison as we spring from our booth and crash through the doors, sending potential customers flying in all directions in our haste to reach her before anything else does.

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

"I love it! Seth is going to die when he sees you in that dress!" Sierra exclaims in delight, clapping her hands together while jumping up and down in an effort to expel some of her excitement.

"Yeah well, Paul might too when he sees it." I glance down uncertainly at my reflection in the full-length mirror in the hallway of the dressing rooms. The hem of the party dress is above my knees and accentuates my waist with a white ribbon tied to my left side. My favorite part about the dress is the black lace covering with the small, black flower designs that are just barely discernible over the black polyester body. I think it's perfect, but knowing my brother, he won't be as happy.

"Well Paul can just shut it because you look great." Sierra waves aside my brother's predictable comments with a wave of her hand, her silver friendship bracelet dangling in its wake. "Besides, the lace on top hides most of your cleavage and you can just borrow one of my white cardigans so he won't notice it's a tube dress until it's too late."

"I don't know. Either way he won't be happy about the length of the dress and there's nothing we can do to hide that." I bite my lip, imagining the possible fit. Really, the hem isn't that short but Paul favors more calf-length dresses on me — and that's pushing it.

"Nope, you're getting it," Sierra says with authority, shoving me back in my dressing room to change. "Your mom loved the dress when we texted her the photo earlier and if she's on your side, then you know you've won. Now hurry up and change so we can get back to your brother and Jake before they call again."

"Seriously," I huff out in disbelief, exiting the dressing room and making my way to the cash register, "he's called at least five times already! I have no idea what's going on with him today."

"Yeah he's acting more protective than usual. If that's possible," Sierra quips as we lay our dresses on the counter to be purchased. "I have a feeling Jake is stopping him from calling right now to be honest. He's usually pretty good at getting Paul to lay off a little."

"Ooh I saw you try this on and I thought it looked absolutely beautiful on you," the sales lady compliments, picking up my black dress to scan the price tag. "Your total comes to $23.85. Is it for some kind of special occasion? Got a big date coming up?"

"Oh thank you, I really like the dress. And actually it's for our homecoming dance in a few weeks," I respond, motioning to Sierra and myself as I hand her an even $25. The cash register on the other end of the counter opens up and a different sales clerk waves Sierra over to be rung up. "It's our first high school dance so we're pretty excited."

"How fun! I remember my first high school dance. I went with Michael Lawson but came home with Greg Teers," she laughs, giving me a knowing wink as she hands me my change. I laugh along with her, shaking my head as Sierra finishes her purchase and joins us in the conversation. "You know what, here, I want you and your friend to have these. No charge. I think they'll look absolutely beautiful on you two."

She grabs two necklaces from a small display sitting in the middle of the counter and sets them before us to see. The first one, a short silver necklace with black beads and a black dangling heart in the center, shines off the lights from the store ceiling. It would go perfectly with my dress. The second necklace is the same but with purple beads and a purple heart in the center — ideal for Sierra's dress. Sierra and I look at each other in surprise, too shocked to say anything at first.

"Oh my goodness. Thank you so much but I don't think we can accept these," I say, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"No, no, no. I want you to have them. Think of it as a gift — from me to you," she insists, wrapping the necklaces up in individual white jewelry boxes and placing them in a small bag before we can utter another word in protest. "Just promise me that you two will have a good time at the dance. You only go through high school once so make every occasion special and memorable. Go it?"

"I promise we will," I respond, failing to hide the giant smile on my face.

"Yes, thank you so much. We really appreciate it," Sierra agrees earnestly, nodding her head and putting the two small boxes in the Lulu's shopping bag with her dress.

"Good. Now off with you," she says, waving her hand toward the door in a friendly fashion and giving us a giant smile. "And I hope to see you girls again."

"Bye! Thanks again!" I call out as we exit the store and head to the diner where Jake and Paul told us they were eating lunch.

"Wow. Talk about the nicest sales lady ever!" Sierra exclaims as soon as we're out of earshot of the store. "Those necklaces are so cute! I can't wait to try them on with my dress. As soon as we get back to your place we need to try everything on."

"Agreed. And bonus — we're 45 minutes ahead of schedule," I say as I check my cell phone. I breathe out a quiet burst of air upon noticing that I have no missed calls from Paul. I'd started to worry a little bit when we were in the store and it had been a full 31 minutes without a single call from him, afraid that I had somehow missed hearing my ringer even though it was on full blast. "Hopefully they're completely full and happy and we can just go home without either of them asking to see our dresses."

"Hahaha," Sierra laughs from my right, "yeah well knowing Jake, he's already cooked up some sort of plan to get Paul to see your dress. Maybe if we bribe him with brownies when Paul isn't listening he'll stay quiet."

I laugh along with her at the truthfulness of her statement. We both saw the evil glint in Jake's eyes in the car when he asked what kind of dress we were looking for. If I know him as well as I think I do, he's definitely got some trick up his sleeve to get Paul's anger up. But I also know that if there's one food item in particular Jake can't resist, it's my double fudge chocolate chip brownies. Yeah, I smirk to myself, he definitely won't be asking to see my dress on the way home if he knows what's good for him.

"Oh. My. God." Sierra stops abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. The suddenness with which she stops causes a chain reaction as I bump into her and three teenage girls collide into me. I hastily stutter out my apologies to the girls who throw me dirty looks in the form of a response. I glare right back and watch as they continue on their way in the direction of the diner, just barely visible across the street and down a couple blocks. I lightly shove Sierra for causing such a domino reaction but she seems to not notice as she remains in a statue-like daze, her eyes still wide but now glossy. "Are those not the three most beautiful men you have ever seen?"

I glance in the direction she is now so rudely pointing and uncharacteristically clap my hand over my mouth to keep it from falling open like Sierra's. Walking in our direction are indeed the three most gorgeous men I have ever seen in real life. They walk with a grace-like quality and seem oblivious to the women openly gawking at them as they stumble past, lightly brushing themselves against the three guys and breaking their necks in an attempt to keep the men in their vision.

The big one on the left smirks at his companions and seems to be the only one enjoying the attention they're receiving. His massive body could rival Paul and his friends and it's only this guy's friendly face that keeps me from feeling overly intimidated. For even though it looks as though he could crush me with a simple flick of his finger, his brown curly hair and dimpled smile resemble that of a child's teddy bear. At the same time, his smile is a sly one, as though he's hiding a secret and wants me to figure it out. In the middle is a slightly smaller guy with blonde hair and a frustrated look on his face. He too is rather built but has nothing on the bigger guy. Finally, on the right, is the cutest one of them all. Slightly lankier than the other two, he stands taller than the middle one but with messy copper hair and an annoyed expression on his face. All, I notice, have golden eyes and a beauty that is almost inhuman.

"Kay so I know I always say that I'm in love with your brother, but I would drop him in a second for a few minutes with any of those guys," Sierra whispers. "Especially the one with the copper bed hair on the right."

The big guy and the blonde laugh out loud in what would have been perfect timing to Sierra's comment if they could have heard it. The teddy bear claps the lankier guy on the back and says something too low for me to understand before laughing loudly with the blonde haired guy again. The lips of the lankier one move but again, I can't make out a word he says. His face tightens, his jaw clenches and his fists ball up as he glances around him, seemingly looking for somebody in the crowd of downtown shoppers. Suddenly the other two stare straight at Sierra and I and quicken their pace, wide smirks stretched across their gorgeous faces, as they continue to head our way.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: **Here it is - my favorite chapter (so far)! Please let me know what you guys think of this one. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

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><p><strong>Edward Cullen POV<strong>

"This better be good Emmett!" I growl to my brother sitting in the backseat as I pass around a driver in the downtown district of Port Angeles. "I don't have time to deal with whatever little adventure your mind has convinced you is a good idea."

"Oh chill out Eddie," Emmett says, even though I can hear his thoughts before he verbalizes them. The ability to hear the passing thoughts of others is not a "gift" I would have necessarily asked for; constantly being bombarded with the vulgar and horrid musings of everyday humans is a burden. But if it means that hearing these thoughts will aid in keeping my family's secret safe, then it's a burden I will bear. "You can get back to cuddling with your precious Bella as soon as we get back."

_'Seriously man, calm down,'_ Jasper laughs through his thoughts, sending me calming waves as he senses my anger rising again at Emmett's comment. _'It was just a joke.'_

"Alright I'm sorry Edward, no need to get so angry," Emmett apologizes, a giant smirk on his face.

If it weren't for the fact that I saw him high-five Jasper out of the corner of my eye, I'd almost take his words for actual sincerity. But then I also remember this is Emmett talking, and when it comes to making a joke about Bella's and my relationship, he's never kidding around. Maybe they've been with their mates too long to be able to recall what it feels like to have to leave them. The emptiness I feel when I'm not with the love of my existence is enough to physically make my body ache; an accomplishment considering I'm harder than marble. Jasper, obviously sensing the longing I'm emanating at the thought of Bella, shoots me stronger waves of calm and serenity. I nod my gratitude.

"Whatever. Why are we here anyway?" I ask, looking to the passenger seat at Jasper as we exit my Volvo. "What was so damn important that you had to drag me away from Bella? Charlie is fishing for the weekend and that mutt, Jacob Black told Bella he'd be busy all weekend; we finally had the house to ourselves!"

"Oh please," Emmett says, pushing aside my annoyance with a flick of his hand and an incredulous expression on his face, "it's not like you two were going to do anything anyway. You know you were going to just sit in her living room cuddling and pretending the sexual tension isn't killing you both. I know, Jasper can feel it from our house." His booming laughter fills the streets as groups of people stare at him in both awe of his good looks and his size. Next to me Jasper nods his head in agreement.

My decision to remain sexually abstinent until marriage has always been a joke among my siblings who are all very sexually ... enthusiastic. Up until I met Bella, I lived my life in solitude for almost a hundred years. Except for the relations I had with my family and another vampire coven in Denali, I had no desire to make any kind of connection with another being — least of all on a romantic level. So when I met Isabella Marie Swan last year in biology class, there was no way I would have ever imagined that she would end up being the most important aspect of my entire existence. At first, controlling the bloodlust seemed impossible; the mere thought of her blood pulsing through her veins was enough to drive me crazy. But when I came so close to losing her last May in Arizona after that sadistic vampire, James, attacked her, I realized how much of my continuance on this earth depended on her being by my side. Those few hours she was missing were enough to put a lot of things in perspective for me. Essentially from that day on, her blood has not sang to me in the way it did in the beginning. I can hold her, I can breathe in her scent and I can be with her in complete, companionable silence and virtually ignore the roaring monster in my head that wants nothing more than to taste her. She is my absolute everything and I can no longer imagine wanting to end her life in order to satiate my selfish thirst.

No, now the only lust plaguing me is pure, unadulterated physical lust.

I try to be the gentleman I know my birth mother raised me to be, but being with her and trying to curb my desire _to be with_ her is getting more difficult every day. I love her and the thought of keeping her beautiful soul intact is a huge reason why I have pushed for abstaining for as long as we have. Bella and I will get married one day and then we'll have the rest of her natural life to be together as husband and wife. Until then, I crave nothing more than to just be fortunate enough to simply bask in her presence.

"The point dear Emmett here will eventually get to," Jasper says, cutting off Emmett from saying something else before I get too agitated, "is that we are here because we want to buy something nice for Alice and Rosalie and since you never pass up an opportunity to buy Bella a present, we thought it'd be nice to invite you along."

I stop dead in my tracks, staring at them curiously as they simultaneously block their minds with various mental images. Emmett's slide show of Rosalie in a myriad of different exotic costumes is to be expected, albeit disturbing. I've been in his mind enough times to know that it only ever really consists of two things: Rosalie, in some form or another, or bears, also in some form or another. No, it's Jasper's mind that has me on immediate alert.

A bonus of being a mind reader is that through a person's thoughts, I am able to see into their deepest musings, secrets, and desires. It is through this that I am able to really get to know a person. But since the only person I have even the slightest interest in getting to know is Bella (whose mind I ironically can't read), the only other people I have been able to put this ability to test is my family. I probably know each individual member of my family better than their significant others and that's all because I can read their thoughts. Over the years, the entire family has gotten better at blocking me and as a result of the respect I have for them, I do try my best to allow them the privacy of their own mind. Nevertheless, I have picked up on a few quirks of each family member (unbeknownst to them) and am able to correlate certain mental thoughts or images with specific emotions. Jasper, for example, only ever thinks of military and fighting techniques he learned from Maria when he's hiding something from me. I know he doesn't particularly like to relive any time period of his life before Alice and only does so when he feels it absolutely prudent that he keep his real thoughts to himself; this is especially the case when it comes to certain visions Alice has or pranks Emmett has planned to torture Bella. The fact that he's currently attempting to soothe my suspicion through his gift only confirms my assumption: there is more to this trip to Port Angeles than simply buying Rosalie, Alice, and Bella a gift.

Besides, we're Cullens and money is not an issue for us. If we really wanted to get our mates presents, we'd go to the finest and most exclusive jewelry shops in the world, not downtown Port Angeles.

"What are you hiding from me Jasper?" I question, my eyes narrowing to slits as he stares at me wide-eyed, confused as to how I know he's hiding things from me. And that's when I see the memory: Alice speaking to him and Emmett in hushed tones in the living room of our house, her excitement evident even in Jasper's mind as she tells them to come to Port Angeles today, making a strong point that they bring me with them. "Why did Alice tell you and Emmett to come to Port Angeles today? And why was it so important that I tag along?" I demand as Jasper shuts his mind down again upon realizing his mistake.

"She wouldn't say exactly," Jasper answers as he continues to walk down the street, leaving Emmett and I to follow in his shadow, his head down slightly in a show of defeat at being caught by me. "All she said was that we needed to take you with us, that it would be funny and that no matter what happens, Emmett and I are to make sure you don't get in a fight."

"Aww come on Eddie Boy, just go with it. If nothing else, think of it as much needed bonding time with your older brothers," Emmett says, clapping me on the back and glancing around him at all the humans shopping. Even though he can't read minds, it doesn't take a genius to guess what every single female is thinking. It's particularly times like these — when women think disgusting things about my brothers and me — that I wish I couldn't read minds. We're vampires, and to the human eye, we're beautiful. So while Jasper and I are stuck being bombarded with the feelings and sights of what they would like to do to us, Emmett is able to casually walk around and laugh at their gawking. "Besides, when has Alice ever led us into something that wasn't fun?"

"Would you really like me to answer that?" I growl back in response. "And you do know that I'm technically older than you right Emmett? Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway because I think I just found what she intended us to reach."

How I didn't smell it in the beginning, I don't know, but the closer we get to two teenage girls, the stronger the scent of wolf. It's obvious even from a distance that they themselves are not wolves, but they are clearly members of the Quileute tribe and are somehow closely linked to members of the werewolf pack. The slightly shorter one stops steadfast in her tracks, causing the taller girl to bump into her along with three other random shoppers who are clearly not with them. The taller girl hastens out an apology and then lightly shoves her friend for causing such a chain reaction.

"Oh. My. God," says the shorter girl as she stares at us with her mouth open and her eyes in a dazed trance. Without even intending to, Emmett, Jasper and I have managed to send the girl into a reverie, causing her to become almost immobile as she stands in awe of our inhuman good looks. A glance inside her mind causes me to grimace — the thoughts of 15-year-old girls have become increasingly more vivid and vulgar in the hundred-plus years I have been alive. "Are those not the three most beautiful men you have ever seen?"

I take a quick glance into the mind of her companion and find a much kinder and gentler thought process. She looks us up and down, comparing Emmett to a teddy bear, taking in Jasper's pained expression and my annoyed one. Emmett's size (he would be happy to know) is determined to be bigger than her brother's and his friends who (I'm not too surprised to discover) are all members of the Quileute wolf pack. But the wolves I know and the boys she knows differ immensely. Where I encounter fierce, volatile, disgusting mutts, she knows only loving, funny and gentle teenage boys who treat her with respect and kindness. Paul Chehalis seems to be her brother and the next one she feels closest to is Jacob Black. I glance at her curiously as no thoughts of Paul and his friends as wolves seem to enter her mind. Instead, the images she produces are of them hanging out around her house, laughing and joking like carefree teenage boys. Moreover, she looks at us like any normal human who does not know what we are: In awe of our beauty and grace, not disgusted or afraid as she should be considering who she has such close ties to. I smile slightly to myself: She knows nothing of the wolf pack secret.

"Kay so I know I always say that I'm in love with your brother, but I would drop him in a second for a few minutes with any of those guys," the shorter girl whispers. "Especially the one with the copper bed hair on the right."

Jasper and Emmett burst out laughing at her comment and I'm surprised to discover the taller girl takes notice of the coincidental timing of their laughter.

"Ooh I better tell Bella to watch out!" Emmett says in a voice too low for any shoppers to hear. "It looks like she's got some competition on her hands." He claps me on the back at the end of what he deems to be a witty comment, laughing loudly with Jasper.

"Bella will never have competition for my love!" I growl out, my anger rising in spite of Jasper's and my efforts to remain calm. "And if you two would just take a minute to smell the air around you, you might take notice that those two girls standing over there gawking at us have the scent of wolf on them. The taller one is Paul Chehalis's sister and both are very closely tied to the entire pack but neither know of their secret."

I ball up my fists and glance around me, sure that these two girls would not be left alone in the city without at least one of the pack members. From far off in the distance I can hear the shouting of a woman's name and the rushing sound of pounding feet on pavement followed by screams and the smashing of a door: They've caught our scent. Next to me, Jasper and Emmett give each other identical smirks.

_'Well then, it would be rude not to say hello wouldn't it?'_ Emmett questions in his mind, leaving me standing by myself as he and Jasper set off toward the two girls.

Over the years that we've been a family, I've grown used to the ridiculous and childish antics of my siblings. The horrible 24-hour period when Alice literally whined her way through an entire day until she got her name put on Carlisle's VIP black credit card; or the time Emmett and Jasper had a video game battle and each went four and a half weeks without hunting just because neither trusted the other to put it on pause, are two events that probably stick out the most in their long list of foolishness. Of course, I haven't even taken into account the numerous times all four of them have been arrested for various acts of misdeeds; including the time Jasper and Emmett broke into a jail just to see who could go the longest without the guards noticing they had an extra prisoner. Jasper still loves throwing it in Emmett's face that he won, while Emmett still maintains that Jasper cheated by using his powers to confuse the guards anytime they would get suspicious about him. But in the decades that we have been living together as a family, none of them have been stupid enough to purposely antagonize a member of the Quileute wolf tribe. We generally try to avoid them not because we are afraid but because it is Carlisle's wish that we remain on fairly good terms with the wolves to keep the peace and our treaty intact. I've known Carlisle for nine decades and am positive he will not be pleased when he discovers this latest charade.

Yeah, this definitely trumps the time Rosalie and Alice led a publicized high-speed chase through California.

"Hi, I couldn't help but notice you two beautiful women staring at my brothers and me. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jasper Hale and this is my brother, Emmett Cullen," Jasper says in a thick southern accent as they approach the two girls.

In spite of myself, I chuckle slightly at the use of his southern drawl. Jasper's aware of the affect it has on women and usually only brings it out when he wants to appear more charming and likable. Against my better judgment, I walk toward them and join the small circle they've created in the middle of the sidewalk. Approaching even closer from behind us are two teenage boys, one so wrought with rage the only thing preventing him from phasing in public is his fear of the girls seeing such a sight. Their footsteps begin to pound louder in my ears, their breathing coming out in heavy gasps and their minds screaming in anger and fear that nothing has touched either girls, particularly the taller one who, I learn through Jake's mind, is named Stacy.

"And this handsome devil," Emmett starts, throwing his giant tree trunk arm around my shoulders, effectively pulling me in tighter to the group, "is our younger brother, Edward Cullen. He's a little shy though. Eddie, say 'hello' to the lovely ladies."

I nod my head courteously in acknowledgment. "Hello, it's nice to meet you."

_'They're not alone are they?'_ Jasper asks, raising his right eyebrow questioningly as he looks at me through his peripheral. I shake my head slightly in return. _'Yeah I didn't think so; the rage and fear pouring from two approaching bodies is too great to not be a wolf.'_

_'Oh, this is going to be so fun.'_ Classic Emmett, always too preoccupied with having a good time to realize that getting into a fight in the middle of downtown Port Angeles is not a good idea. Particularly when the fight involves two creatures only meant to exist in horror stories told to children.

"Well I'm Sierra," introduces the shorter girl, pointing at herself and blinking her eyelashes unnecessarily, "and this is my best friend Stacy. What brings you three to Port Angeles today?" As she finishes her questioning, she looks the three of us up and down hungrily, noting the muscular shapes of our bodies. Little by little she mentally undresses my brothers and I until her imagination has painted an image of each of us standing in the middle of the sidewalk in nothing but a pair of boxers. I almost gag at the image of my brothers not fully clothed until I catch the thoughts of a nearby child holding his mother's hand who has decided upon a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for snack. I sigh inwardly in relief — that's much better.

"Nothing very noteworthy. Our sister just suggested a drive to Port Angeles might be a good idea today. What about yourselves? Surely your boyfriends wouldn't have left you two pretty girls all alone in this town?" Emmett tries his hand at shock as he glances around him wildly, appearing to be in a desperate search for their significant others.

"Oh no, actually we're here with my brother and one of his friends shopping for our dresses for a school dance," replies Stacy, smiling sweetly as she holds up her shopping bag. "They wanted to eat while we shopped so we're actually on our way to go meet them in some diner up the street."

The contrast between Stacy's mind and her friend's is immeasurably startling. Upon the mention of the word 'boyfriend,' Stacy's mind jumps to an older boy who looks to be around 16 or 17-years-old. Nevertheless, her thoughts aren't filled with lust like that of her friend's, but rather of peaceful days on the beach and small food fights in her kitchen. For a moment it looks like she is thinking of two different boys, for the boy throwing lettuce at her and the boy walking hand-in-hand with her from the beach are strikingly different. The former is gangly and looks more like a 14-year-old whereas the latter is taller with a stronger jaw line and a more filled out body frame. She looks the same though in these scenes and it suddenly occurs to me that the boy in her mind has changed drastically. The giant growth spurt, the physical age progression and the overly enlarged muscles — he's a yet-to-phase wolf.

"Actually, that's them right there, running toward us." Stacy points over Jasper's shoulder and waves as the three of us turn together, Jasper and Emmett with giant smiles on their faces. Less than twenty feet from us are Jacob Black and Paul Chehalis, looking the most irate I have ever seen them. They halt in their actions momentarily, shock registering on their faces and in their thoughts as they finally catch a glimpse of who is talking to Stacy and Sierra. The startle doesn't last long.

"Get the fuck away from my sister leeches!" roars Paul as he and Jake shove past us with enough strength to knock aside a normal human, blocking Stacy and Sierra from our view with protective stances. "Anastasia we're leaving, now!"

"Did you just call them leeches?" Sierra asks, amusement in her tone. For a quick second, Jake, Paul, my brothers and I stare at each other; Jake and Paul, frozen in fear as Paul realizes his mistake and us three with small smirks gracing our inhumanly chiseled faces. "And what's with the strange stance? What are you a ninja?"

_'Haha oh man Paul is freaking out!'_ Jasper directs to me. _'I've never felt so much fear and anger emanate from one person at the same time before.'_

"Paul what the hell is your damn problem? These guys were just talking to us, there's no reason for you and Jake to be so rude!" This time it's Stacy's turn to be angry. She whacks her brother on the back of his head and her thoughts show how embarrassed she is for his reaction toward us. "I'm sorry you guys," she apologizes gently to my brothers and me, "but this is my jerk brother Paul and his rude friend Jacob."

"Stacy, sweetie, now really isn't the best time for this sort of thing," Jake warns, not taking his eyes off us but easing from his protective stance to stand at his full height with his arms crossed. "Besides, I'm sure the parasites here were just on their way to grab some lunch and we don't want to hold them up."

"Oh no thanks Jake, filthy mongrel has never really been my favorite item on the menu," Emmett retorts, the smirk now gone from his usually jolly face as the dogs' antics infuriate him more. Next to me, Jasper laughs his amusement while Stacy and Sierra stare at the word match before them, confused as to how two groups of apparent strangers could talk to each other in such a horrid manner upon first sight. "But hey, I did see a stick back there, do you want to play some fetch doggie? Or would you rather I take you to get your flea shots, mutt?"

_'Wow, Paul has never looked hotter. Mmm ... I love it when he's mad. I think a sundae would cool him off just right.'_ I cast a quizzical look to Sierra at the mention of a sundae, wondering how a person could be thinking of dessert when two different mythical creatures are on the verge of a very public brawl. _'Forget the Paul sundae, I'd rather have an Eddie sundae. Yeah that's right, just you, me, a can of whipped cream and a bottle of chocolate sauce.'_ Sierra looks me up and down in a very disturbing manner and I proceed to block her out before she gets too graphic; I see enough of that with Jessica Stanley at school.

_'Oh my goodness, what is going on here?'_ Stacy shouts in her mind. _'I've never seen them act like this! Oh no, Paul's starting to do that weird shaking thing again. This is bad, this is really bad. The big guy looks like he could handle his own, but I don't know about the other two — Paul and Jake are really strong. What do I do? Man I wish Dad was here, he can always calm Paul down.'_

I glance quickly at Paul, just in time to see his body start to blur around the edges of his frame, the growling slowly building up from his chest as he clenches and unclenches his fists in time with his breathing. Small discernible popping sounds break the tension momentarily as Paul's body slowly begins to morph. Jake notices it at the same time and proceeds to curse at me through his mind, threatening to rip me apart if Paul blows his secret to his sister and her friend.

I told Bella wolves are too dangerous to be around.

"Alright guys," I intercept, putting my hands up before Emmett and Paul lunge at each other, "I think we've had enough fun for today. Ladies, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I hope you enjoy your school dance." I tip my head slightly in their direction and give both a crooked smile. Immediately, their pulses quicken and the blood from their veins rushes to their dark cheeks as they blush at my gesture.

"I hope we meet again." Emmett proceeds to wink and wave causing Sierra to giggle and Stacy to roll her eyes at her friend's reaction.

Jasper repeats Emmett's performance before turning his disgusted gaze to the two mutts before us. "Jake, Paul. Always a pleasure."

"Come on guys," I say as I begin walking back the way we came, ushering them back to our car with a tug on each of their arms, "I want to get back to Bella."

I wince immediately, realizing the backlash my words have the potential to cause. While I may not like the revolting mutt that is Jacob Black, I don't purposely try to antagonize him by using my relationship with Bella against him. _I_ can't stand him, but Bella has a deep friendship with him and what makes her happy, makes me happy. She would be deeply upset with me if she thought I had purposely used those words to cause her best friend pain and heartache.

My two brothers laugh at my comment, under the mistaken impression that I intended for my words to wound Jacob.

I hear a low growl coming from behind me as Jacob becomes too infuriated to form logical sentences in his mind.

"Fuck you Cullen!" Jacob yells at me from down the street where we left the four of them. Jasper begins to turn around and head back to the group, fully intent on starting a fight that would have the potential to expose us all. I grab him by the upper arm and Emmett uses his overlarge body to shove Jasper back by the chest before turning around himself to yell one last thing to Jacob and Paul.

"You're too late mutt," Emmett laughs. "Bella's already doing that!"

Emmett laughs his loud booming laughter for all of downtown to hear, making especially sure to walk backward the remaining feet to my car in order to watch Jacob's face fall in a mixture of sadness, shock and fury.

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

"Paul, you need to calm down," Jake whispers next to me as we follow the girls back to the car. "You're so close to phasing and we can't have that right now. We'll just drop the girls off and then you can change in the forest and we'll head to Sam's."

"How the fuck am I supposed to calm down Jake?" I growl. "Those fucking blood suckers were so close to her! And they winked at her ... they fucking winked at her!"

I couldn't even believe it. I had been on edge all day, allowed them to go shopping by themselves despite what my gut intuition told me was a bad idea and one of my worst fears had actually occurred. I try so hard, every single day, to keep this part of my life completely separate from my family life and I feel like I failed. The cockiness of all three of those blood suckers as they casually stood there talking to Anastasia and Sierra — like what they were doing wasn't cause enough for me to rip their heads off — literally makes me shake with rage.

I look at my reflection in the shop windows as we walk the short distance to the car and notice the blurred form I have permanently become in the aftermath of the altercation. If people weren't so consumed by their own happy lives, they might actually take notice that a 16-year-old boy is literally becoming blurry before their eyes. Greater than the rage I feel toward those bastards though is complete and utter fear.

I understand that in a sense I am lucky: lucky that the three vampires my sister just so happened to run into were "vegetarians" and only drink from the blood of animals, lucky that they are so practiced in their lifestyle as to be able to interact with humans on a daily basis as high school students, lucky that one of them happens to be involved with a human, lucky that the most important part of my life wasn't harmed. But in spite of this, I can't shake the mortification I feel deep in my bones because vegetarian or not, my sister was still face-to-face with three deadly vampires and I was nowhere near her. If anything had happened to her, it would have been my entire fault and I would never have been able to forgive myself.

I glance up ahead to where Anastasia and Sierra are leaning angrily against the car, waiting for Jake and me. I get why my sister is so furious with me. From her point of view, it looks like we were merely being overprotective, preventing three normal guys from having a friendly conversation with them and being entirely rude in the process. Even though she is probably the angriest she's ever been with me, I still can't bring myself to tell her the truth. The glare upon her face is enough to break my heart, but I'd still rather face her fury and my heartache than have her happy, normal life flipped to one of constant fear and danger. She doesn't understand it, but all of my decisions are meant to keep her safe.

"I cannot even believe you Paul William Chehalis! What the hell has gotten into you?" She's been upset with me before, but I've never seen her like this. She throws herself into the backseat of the car behind the driver's seat and proceeds to yell at me as Jake pulls away from the curb, heading toward the freeway to take us back home. "You completely embarrassed me! They were just being nice and for you and Jake to come storming up to us like that ... Why did you do that? Are you completely hellbent on me never talking to a guy? You know, you have it too good when it comes to me. I never question the outrageous things you do, I don't do things other girls my age do and I listen to you as if you were another father. But you know what? I've got a message for you: You're not my father!"

"You know Stacy, now really isn't the best time for this." Jake responds for me, seeing how I'm unable to form the right words at Anastasia's rant. A part of me is completely crushed by her words and I want nothing more than to turn around and allow her to see the hurt in my eyes, for her to see that what I did had nothing to do with keeping guys away from her. But the stronger, animal part of me has me biting my tongue, forbidding me from facing her and yelling at her, telling her that my actions are my business and she will do as I say. Instead I close my eyes and take silent breaths, clenching and unclenching my fists in time to my rapid heartbeat. "Let's just get home and you guys can talk about this later once everybody has calmed down."

"No!" she surprisingly yells at Jake, causing him to turn to me in alarm. "I want an explanation and I want it from Paul right now." She's no longer yelling, but her voice has taken on an icy tone. "And don't you dare tell me it's a guy thing because I let that lame excuse pass enough as it is. I want the truth and I want it now."

I turn around in my seat, struggling against the seat belt and take one more calming breath, praying to whoever will listen that I maintain my cool and don't explode right here in the car. "Fine, you want the truth? The truth is that those three guys are not good guys. They're dangerous and I don't want you or Sierra ever going near them again. Understand me?" They both nod their heads quietly, taking in the seriousness of my tone and knowing better than to fight me further at the moment. Anastasia has seen me angry more times than I'm proud of and knows she is lucky to have been able to scream at me in such a manner. Her eyes alight with a burning question and she opens her mouth to respond; I cut her off. "And no, I won't get into specifics so don't you dare question me." I turn back around in my seat, making it clear that this topic is not open for further discussion. Unfortunately, Sierra has never been good at picking up on signals that aren't from my sister.

"Wait, you two know those guys?" she asks confusedly. I look to Jake to respond for me. "How? I've never seen you with them before."

Jake shifts uncomfortably in his seat, his hands tightening a little bit on the steering wheel in the process. How are we going to explain how we know those leeches? _'Oh well you know, they're actually a part of a coven of vampires who live right outside Forks and Jake, the rest of the guys and I are all wolves and we kill vampires. But Jake's great-grandfather made a pact with their leader so as long as they don't come on our land or bite a human, we don't kill them. But don't worry, they only drink animal blood.'_ I snicker to myself, yeah, that would be a great way to break the tension in this car. I doubt they'd believe us even if we told them the truth at this point; they'd probably just think we were lying and get even angrier with us.

"Well that one guy Edward is dating my dad's best friend's daughter and those are his brothers so ... yeah." Jake finishes lamely and I can almost see the wheels turning in Anastasia's head as she formulates more questions.

"Oh you mean that quiet, brown haired girl I met at your house that one time Jake? Huh. Well if they're so dangerous then shouldn't Billy's friend know about it? It is his daughter." I can feel her eyes bouncing between Jake and me, waiting for an explanation that would undoubtedly raise more questions than answers.

"It's not our business Anastasia. I'm sorry we embarrassed you and I'm sorry you think we were rude, but please, enough." I turn my head to look at her, hoping she'll see the pain and pleading look in my eyes that begs her to just let the whole conversation drop. She nods her head once, and finally leans back in the seat, her body no longer stiff and ready for a fight. I lean my head against the window, enjoying the cooling sensation it brings to my forehead and the wanderings of my thoughts. 'She's safe.' I repeat it like a mantra in my head and close my eyes wearily, my body no longer shaking with anger, but now exhausted from a mixture of emotions as the rest of the car ride continues in absolute silence sans the radio playing softly in the background.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN:** I hope you enjoyed that last chapter. I don't know why but I had a lot of fun writing from Edward's POV. Oh and **cheyennenichole** (and anyone else who was wondering): yes, Paul will tell her about them being wolves but he's just being really paranoid and frustrating right now.

On a completely unrelated note: my little sister just got into the Ph.D program at one of the universities here in California. I'm so excited for her!

Enjoy and be sure to tell your friends about my story! :)

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><p><strong>Quil POV<strong>

Sweets has rarely left Stacy's side in the week since their intense encounter with the Cullens in Port Angeles.

Embry and I were on patrol that afternoon, running through the thick forest, when we heard him enter our thoughts. The shock, the fear, the anger, the confusion — it all poured out of Sweets like a flood as his jumbled mind slowly put the pieces together for us. For a while, I don't think he even registered that Embry and I were present and it wasn't until we caught up to him on the outskirts of Sam's house that he finally acknowledged our existence. Poor Paul was shocked his two worlds had somehow met, afraid that she had met vampires, and furious the Cullens had dared approach her even though they knew who she was. But the most intense emotion was his confusion — confusion as to why he wasn't angrier and why beneath it all, he felt a sense of thankfulness to the Cullens.

While none of the pack is willing to discuss it openly with him, secretly we think he wasn't angrier because a part of him is glad his two very different worlds collided, hoping that somehow it could be the end of his double life. More than that, he's thankful that when his two lives met, it was with the Cullens. As disgusting and revolting as those blood suckers are, we have recognized that they are practiced enough in their lifestyle of drinking only animal blood to attend high school with humans on a daily basis without a single student ever being harmed. While this knowledge doesn't condone their behavior in Port Angeles or make us any less complacent with them, it does give Paul enough peace of mind to understand that he was lucky Stacy and Sierra met three "vegetarian" vampires and not something so much worse.

As Stacy has grown up and as our relationship with Sweets has grown from simple friendship to lifetime brotherhood, we have all come to the understanding that Stacy is as much a member of this pack as if she were an imprint. While the feelings we have for her aren't the same, the devotion and the intense need to protect her are similar. Sharing minds allows us to understand one another better; it's how we grasp Sam and Jared's love for Emily and Kim and how Sam and Jared are able to register the importance of Stacy in Paul's life. No, not just in Paul's life, but in Jake's, Embry's, and mine. We've grown to love her as if she were our own flesh and blood. Just like with Paul, Stacy is family.

"So is your sister still mad at you for being 'rude' in Port Angeles?" Embry puts up quotation marks with his fingers and makes a face, clearly disagreeing with the idea that a person could be too rude to vampires.

"She was, until Seth started coming around. I think he talked to her for me," Paul answers, shaking his head. Whether at the idea of Seth coming around or that Stacy is still mad at him, I can't be sure, but I have a feeling it's the former. He kicks a rock in his path, sending it flying across the street and colliding loudly with a stop sign as we turn the corner onto his street from Jake's place. "It's like when he's around, nothing pisses her off. I ate the last of the ham lunchmeat yesterday with my triple-decker sandwich right? So she gets mad like usual and stomps around the kitchen, giving me dirty looks. But then, as soon as Seth walks in, she decides it's no big deal and makes a grilled cheese instead. I don't know what it is."

"Haha that sounds like a pre-wolf imprint," Jared laughs.

"Funny Jared," Paul says sarcastically, "because Anastasia so needs another tie to this freaky world we exist in. It's bad enough she's got me so close to her. If it weren't for what I am, those filthy Cullens wouldn't have gone near her."

"Fuckin'-A Sweets, we've been over this!" Embry throws his hands up and rolls his eyes. Since he changed, Paul's feared that some vampire is going to get his sister and that because he's a wolf, it will be his entire fault. We didn't understand his reasoning when he first shared his fear, but we let him vent for a few days. Then Embry got so sick of it he slapped Paul. That was definitely one of their better fights. "She is more protected with you as her brother than she would be if you had never phased. You knowing about leeches, being able to fight them off and having a pack that would do anything to keep her safe ... fuck man, she couldn't be luckier."

Embry is mainly known for his dirty humor and crass attitude, so speeches like this are few and far between. But on the rare occasion he does get serious and speaks from the heart, it's always sincere and no one would be able to doubt it.

Paul nods his head gently and smirks when Embry jabs him in the left arm. Girls always think they need to express their feelings with hour-long crying sessions and heartfelt words, but guys understand that sometimes, nothing needs to be said.

Pff, and people say girls are better communicators.

"So what'd your parents say about it all?" I ask. "I assume Stacy told them you and Jake were being assholes to some random guys who tried to talk to her and Sierra."

"Well Jake managed to get to them as soon as we got back and told them what happened so I at least avoided the wrath of my mom." Paul chuckles darkly, running his hand over the back of his neck tiredly as we approach the gate to his house. As awesome as Mrs. Chehalis is, she's well known for having a very short temper. Usually it's justified what with the five of us always getting into some kind of trouble, but she's also been known to flare up without giving anybody a chance to explain. Heck, she even hands out extra chores as punishment to Jake, Embry, and me. "But they were understandably pretty freaked out. They told Anastasia I was grounded for two weeks but that was just to keep her from getting suspicious."

We clamber through the front door just in time to see Seth throw Stacy over his shoulder, her legs kicking wildly in the air as her hair sways with her laughter. Immediately, Jake, Embry, Jared and I look at Paul, curious to see his reaction and like usual, he stares for a moment and then proceeds to the kitchen for a snack. Other than his best friends, Seth is the only guy allowed to even _look_ at Stacy for more than a few seconds, and even we better have a good reason. I've walked into a room dozens of times to see Seth's arms draped across her shoulders, her cuddling into his side watching a movie, thinking that Paul is going to rip Seth's arm off and been shocked to see him just sit down and act like nothing is going on.

The four of us look at each other momentarily before shrugging our shoulders and following Sweets into the kitchen.

"Why is it that Seth is allowed to practically feel your sister up right in front of you without you freaking out but the moment I make one dirty comment about her, you almost phase?" As ridiculous as Embry's question may sound, it is something to think about. For two weeks last year Paul banned Embry from being in the same room as Stacy because of a pregnancy joke. It was hilarious because Stacy caught on after a day or two and would randomly appear in whatever room we were in just to watch Paul immediately kick Embry out of the room. Sometimes through the door and sometimes through a window. Either way, it was always funny as hell to the rest of us.

"Because Seth isn't a horny little bastard like you, Em," Paul responds conversationally, not bothering to even look up from his spot by the counter where he's making a sandwich. "And what are you talking about? Seth has never tried to feel Anastasia up."

"Sorry to break it to you Sweets, but everything Seth does is centered around trying to cop a feel on your sister," Jared laughs. "And you gotta give him credit, he's pretty smooth. He pulls the arm-around-the-shoulder bit, the tossing-her-over-your-shoulder scheme — which is great for trying to grab ass by the way — and the arms-around-the-waist trick. All pretty professional for a 14-year-old boy."

The rest of us snicker at Jared's rant while he continues to stand within punching distance of Paul, a wide grin plastered on his amused face.

"And he's a teenage boy! What teenage boy do you know that isn't a horny little bastard?" Jake points out. "It's not Embry's fault he just happens to be in the Advanced Placement Horny Little Bastard Program."

Sweets opens his mouth to respond when a loud, high-pitched giggle erupts from the next room.

"Seth, put me down!" Stacy laughs, "My shirt's riding up!" We bust out in uproarious laughter in the kitchen as Paul storms into the living room, sandwich in hand.

By the time we contain our laughter enough to leave the kitchen, Stacy has been put down and Paul has rooted himself to the recliner, sandwich finished and scowl on his face as his eyes switch from the television to Stacy and Seth. Seated together in the middle of the couch, the two seem to be lost in their own little world, giggling and whispering words even too low for our sensitive wolf ears. As much as Jared's words were meant to be a joke, he had a point when he described their relationship as pre-wolf imprint. He shifts, she shifts; eyes only for each other; the world around them dissolved — I've never seen anything like it from anyone other than a wolf and his imprint. Could there be such a thing as pre-phase imprinting? Can a wolf imprint before he phases for the first time?

"Dude, Quil, what the hell are you doing?" Jake, seated on the other side of Seth, breaks me from my thoughts. I look around me quickly and notice that I'm the only one standing while everyone else is seated around the television, glancing at me curiously. Well almost everyone — Seth and Stacy still seem to be unable to break themselves away from each other's dreamy stare. I tilt my head to the side meaningfully, telling the rest of the pack with my eyes to look at the two lovebirds seated on the couch.

"Remind you guys of anybody?" I ask quietly before sitting myself down on the other side of Stacy.

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><p><strong>Jared POV<strong>

Being that I'm a few years older than Sweets and the rest of the guys, I never grew up hanging around with them or Stacy all the time. The reservation isn't that big so obviously I knew who they were and I'd hung out with the guys a few times, but I was never as close with them, was never a part of that close knit four man group that always consisted of just them — until now.

Before I phased, I mostly stuck to myself and a few random guys my age but I can't say I ever really felt at ease with any of them. Being a part of this pack has made me feel more comfortable with people my age than I have ever felt. Seeing into the minds of my pack brothers, I've come to realize that we all gained something when we phased, something that none of us realized we were missing until we became a pack. For Sam, it was another person who could understand his plight in a way Emily couldn't; for Embry, it was the family he never felt he had; Jake gained the mother he misses so dearly in Emily; Quil, a stronger, younger male role model in Sam; and for Paul, a band of brothers. As for me, I guess the thing I never realized I was missing was acceptance from a group of people outside my immediate family, and I gained that not only in Emily and the five guys I call family, but also in my other half, Kim.

It's amazing the way your world shifts once you imprint, indescribable even. In the few weeks between phasing for the first time and returning to school and seeing Kim, the only thing I cared about was the pack (which at the time consisted of only Sam and I), and my parents. School, girls, friends — everything else took a backseat. All I knew and all that mattered was that I was now a Quileute warrior and it was my job to protect the people of La Push from leeches. But the moment I turned around that cold, stormy Thursday morning in English class to borrow a pencil from Kim, my world shifted to her, and only her. Yeah I still felt compelled to protect the people of my tribe, but I also knew that more than anything, I was fighting to protect Kim. She had liked me for a while and it still amazes me how blind I was to her perfection until I phased. How I could have ever missed those beautiful, inquisitive blue eyes is completely beyond me. Sam and I have tried explaining to the other guys what it's like to find your imprint but it's something not even the greatest writer in the world could put into words. Sure they all make cracks about how we get "lost" in each others' eyes, but what they don't understand is that we're not simply staring into each others' eyes — we're seeing into the others' soul, we're having entire conversations without words, and we're simply enjoying each other in companionable understanding.

It all sounds cheesy and lame and way too girly for a giant, menacing wolf designed to rip apart parasites with their teeth. Trust me, I'm well aware. But when you're with your imprint, you don't care. All you care about is that you're with them, and nothing will go wrong as long as you're with them. So knowing this, and knowing exactly what it feels and looks like, I can't help but stare at Stacy and Seth in bewilderment. If it weren't for the fact that the entire pack is waiting on tenterhooks for Seth to phase at any moment, I'd chalk up his and Stacy's actions to unmistakable puppy love. But knowing what is going to happen to Seth at any moment, I have to wonder if what I joked about earlier on the way here could actually be a possibility.

Is there a chance that a wolf could find his imprint _before_ he phases for the first time?

"So what have you two been up to all day? Doing a little body wrestling on the couch?" Embry wags his eyebrows suggestively to Stacy and Seth and nudges Paul on the knee with his elbow from his position by the recliner. Immediately Paul whacks Embry on the back of his head and a clear 'thwack' can be heard as his hand makes contact. I sigh lightly; that moron will never learn to not be in hitting range when making a suggestive comment about Stacy.

"Well we were going to go to the beach today but Mom and Dad are on some stupid power trip and wouldn't let me go." She huffs out a frustrated blast of air and proceeds to look irritated until Seth's newly muscled arm casually goes around her shoulders and he begins to make small soothing circles on her upper arm. Almost immediately her face lightens and she smiles up at him. "But it worked out anyway because Seth was able to come over here and we caught a movie marathon on TV instead."

"So, uh, Seth. What's been going on with you? You're looking huge lately man. Have you been working out or what?" I size up his body from my position on the floor by Quil, making out only his lower body and a portion of his upper body from its half-hidden position behind Stacy, who is leaning into his side. The sight makes me miss Kim, who is away at her grandparents for the weekend with the family for a reunion.

"Haha, when I was his age, the only thing I ever worked out was my right forearm." Typical Embry: perverted joke and accompanying hand motions. Almost instantly everyone in the room rolls their eyes, not the least bit shocked by his statement.

"Really? 'Cuz your forearm is pretty small. You must have been working out with some pretty tiny exercise equipment," Jake responds before turning his attention back to Seth, tuning out the angry muttering from Embry about how it was actually very large.

"Oh yeah, uh, I don't know Jared," Seth continues, slightly distracted by Embry's comment. "I went through a growth spurt I guess, it all just kind of happened. Must be all the food I've been eating lately. Leah shot up a little bit too. Not as much as I did, but she's almost eighteen, you'd figure she'd be done growing by now."

"Yeah that is kind of weird. Rachel and Rebecca stopped growing in about the sixth or seventh grade," Jake says slowly, referring to his older twin sisters.

The rest of the pack stops talking and glances at each other questioningly for a quick moment. Now none of us know much about girls and their girly changes, but we have all taken a required sex education class in school and paid enough attention to know that girls stop growing about two years after they hit puberty. I'm a senior in high school with Leah, and trust me, all the guys noticed when she hit puberty in middle school. When you're a 13-year-old boy starting to take real notice of girls, boobs are the only thing on your mind.

But there has never been a female wolf in the pack in the many generations since our tribe first began phasing. Could her sudden growth be just a weird coincidence? Just because her brother is showing all the symptoms of an impending change, doesn't mean she would be too. Right?

I shake my head 'no' to the rest of the guys who are all looking to me for some kind of answer. There have been other female ancestors of past pack members and they never phased. Shit, Jake's older sisters never became wolves. Surely if a girl was meant to become a member of the wolf pack, one would have appeared already. Thankfully, Seth and Stacy have resumed their places in their closed-off world and do not notice the silent conversation that takes place. I really like Stacy and all, but sometimes, she's just too inquisitive and perceptive and that's especially a pain in the ass when we're trying so desperately hard to keep such a huge secret from her at Paul's demand.

"Well either way, you'll always be my favorite freakishly giant Clearwater," Stacy laughs, patting Seth lightly on the head. She stops suddenly and her face scrunches up in shock, her hand jumping back to its place on his forehead as if she's feeling his temperature. "Oh my God Seth! Are you okay? You're burning up! Do you feel sick?"

Paul's head snaps away from the television and I can tell he's debating whether or not it would draw a lot of unwanted questions if he unexpectedly yanked his sister away from Seth without an explanation. Jake, sensing the same thing I do from Paul and being stronger than Embry, breaks the distance from the couch to the recliner with his right arm, preparing to jump up and stop Paul from overreacting if necessary. Embry, guessing at the actions of Jake, crouches up from his sitting position, his weight resting on his bent knees and his body leaning slightly toward Seth, ready to grab him at a second's notice. Quil, meanwhile, sits up straighter in his spot by Stacy and his arm instinctively goes across the back of the couch, preparing to pull her away at the first sign of Seth shaking. The living room sits thick in anticipation: Stacy worried for her friend and the rest of us worried for her.

"No, that's what's so weird. I know I have a high temperature, but I feel absolutely fine," he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"How long have you had a high temperature Seth?" I attempt to ask in a calm, nonchalant tone but even I can sense the nervousness in my question. Stacy looks at him curiously while the rest of us sit waiting on pins and needles, not having shifted from our tense positions. His answer could give us a more accurate time frame for his first phase.

"I don't know, a few days. Definitely not longer than a week. But I feel fine." He looks around the room and the calm expression on his face does nothing to hide his true curiosity about our sudden shifts in seating. He opens his mouth to say something when he catches the worried eyes of Stacy. "Don't worry Stace, I feel fine. It's probably nothing. I'm still taking you to the dance this weekend so don't even worry."

"Are you sure?" she asks. "Because I promise I won't be mad if you want to cancel. I'd rather stay home than for you to get worse."

"Stacy, seriously, I'm not sick. Don't stress." He gives her shoulders a light squeeze before stretching out his long body and getting up. "I have to go, I gotta beat Leah home before she eats my dinner like she did last night."

Growth spurt and an increased appetite?

"I'll walk you out Seth." Stacy gets up from her position by the couch to walk him to the door. Quil shoots a quick glance to Paul, asking if he should let her go. Paul nods a quick 'yes' without fully taking his eyes off Stacy.

"Guys, it was good seeing you all again. I'll see you here on Saturday for the dance." He gives each of us a slight wave and heads to the door, Stacy bouncing along beside him as their joined hands swing in time with her step.

"Did Seth just say that Leah ate his dinner last night?" Paul asks conversationally after hearing the front door close.

"Yeah," Stacy laughs from the entryway of the living room at the foot of the stairs. "Apparently she's been eating like crazy lately. They got in a full-on wrestling match last week on top of the dinner table when she tried to steal the steak off his plate. I keep telling Seth she's pregnant."

She continues her laughing as she bounds up the stairs, leaving us alone in the living room, the television still on but no one's watching. Instead, the five of us sit very still in our spots around the living room, deep in our thoughts.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN:** Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! They always mean so much! And be sure to tell your friends about my story :) Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Stacy POV<strong>

I've been insanely concerned about Seth all week. I could have fried an egg on his forehead last weekend but he still insists on going tonight, saying that he feels fine despite his high temperature. Boys.

"Stacy, stop worrying about Seth," Sierra scolds. Obviously I wasn't doing as good a job at hiding my concerns as I'd hoped. "He said he feels fine so leave it. I'm sure if he really felt terrible, he'd tell you. Now hurry up and finish getting ready, the guys are going to be here soon to take pictures."

Sierra and I have spent the better part of today locked up in my room getting ready for the dance tonight. We did the typical girly stuff like paint each others nails and try out different hairstyles, but mainly we just danced around my room and hung out while my mom intermittently brought us up snack foods throughout the day.

"So have you made up your mind about Seth?" Sierra pins one last curl to the side before turning around from her place at my dresser to look at me. "'Cuz from the way you two have been all over each other the past week, it kind of looks like you have."

"We have not been 'all over each other.' We've just been a little ... more affectionate lately." I stupidly blush a little at my blatant lie and catch the smirk Sierra throws my way before turning my head, making a show of looking for my dress. "And yes, I have decided that I'm just going to go for it. Quil's sweet, but you were right about Seth, he's perfect. I'm going to talk to him tonight after the dance."

It's pretty weird the way Seth and I work because it's almost like he already knows what I've decided without me having to tell him. Without even having to talk about anything, we seem to have come to a mutual understanding that the other is what both of us want. It's not even like there was a dramatic shift in our relationship and everything changed, it's more like those feelings and the physical closeness have been there all along, only we left it hanging in the air like a giant elephant in a small room. Now the elephant is shrinking, and I'm hoping that by the end of tonight, it will have completely disappeared.

"Well good, I'm glad. But you have to promise me one thing when you start dating Seth." I look at Sierra curiously. Neither of us have had real boyfriends so we've never had to deal with one of us splitting our time between the other and a guy. I hope she's not worried I'm going to ditch her to hangout with Seth all the time.

"Sierra if you're worried about me ditching you for Seth, don't. You're my best friend and no matter how I may feel about Seth, he can never replace you." I look at her seriously and stride across the room to give her a big hug, my dress halfway unzipped in the back.

"Please, I would kill you if you started ditching me to be with him. No worries there," she laughs into my hair before spinning me around to zip up my dress the rest of the way. "No, what I was going to say is that you have to promise to let me be in the room when Paul and crew give Seth the typical 'you hurt my sister I'll break every bone in your body' speech. It has potential to be one of the best ever given in the history of older brothers and dating."

I laugh along with her as I step into my heels and put on the white cardigan I borrowed from Sierra, nodding my head in agreement. "Yeah sure I promise. But those guys love Seth so you may not get much of a show. Actually, I'd be surprised if they told him anything at all. Paul never says anything when Seth has his arms around me so I feel like he's kind of been waiting for this."

"Girls!" my mom yells from downstairs, "John and Seth are here!"

"Kay, we'll be right down!" Sierra yells to my mom as I desperately look for a pair of earrings. "And if Paul and his friends don't threaten to cut Seth's balls off if he hurts you, I think I will die of shock. I mean, I know they all think Seth can do no wrong and everything, but even Paul has to have some boundaries when it comes to him."

"True. But who knows what's going to happen tonight," I say as I grab my small clutch and head for the door, Sierra following closely behind. "We might be getting ahead of ourselves here. I mean, for all I know, Seth really isn't into me and we've been reading too much into everything."

I turn around to flip off the lights behind me in time to see Sierra with a dubious look on her face, one eyebrow arched to the sky. "Oh please," she says, "if Seth isn't into you not only will I beat him to within an inch of his life right in the middle of the dance floor, but I will then personally feed his bloody, lifeless body to the wolves in the woods."

I laugh with her as we descend the stairs into the living room. "Haha sounds like a fantastic plan."

"Eh, what are best friends for if not to plan the murders of the boys who hurt you?" She jokes, shrugging her shoulders and lightly nudging me in the side. "You'd do the same for me."

"Without a doubt," I respond sincerely.

And then I step into the living room, see him and know that I haven't been reading into anything incorrectly.

Seth jumps up from his seat in the recliner, my white corsage in his hands and shifts his weight nervously from foot to foot. Dressed in a black button down dress shirt, black slacks and a white tie, I've never seen him look so handsome. His hands shake slightly as he slowly walks toward me, a shy smile on his face. I laugh inwardly — to an outsider it would look like Seth and I are going out on our first awkward date and haven't known each other almost all our lives. I glance around the room and see my mom failing to hide her giggles and my dad chuckling right beside her. Standing to the right of Seth is Paul who seems to be watching Seth's every move, moving slightly with every step Seth takes. I shoot him a dark look, warning him to back off. He promised he'd be on his best behavior tonight but sometimes, I think he just can't help himself. What I don't understand is his sudden curiousness concerning Seth's and my relationship. Since when did Paul start caring about me being alone with Seth?

"You, uh, you look really great." Seth keeps his head down the entire time he's speaking to me and fumbles with the container holding my corsage. Just as my mom steps forward to help him, he rips the entire lid off the plastic container with a loud pop and blushes deep red. "Oops," he says sheepishly while handing the entire thing to my mom.

"Don't worry about it sweetie, just go put the corsage on her wrist." My mom gives him a motherly pat on the arm, hoping to quell his obvious nerves.

"Dude, you got the corsage that goes on the wrist? We clearly need to have a talk later," Embry blurts out as he, Jake, and Quil come barreling through the door to stand behind me, my left arm still outstretched for Seth to put the corsage on. I really need to talk to Mom and Dad about this whole 'unlocked door' policy we have going.

"Embry Jonathan Call we've talked about these kinds of comments before young man," Dad scolds. "That's not the way you talk about girls."

"Sorry Mr. Chehalis," Embry winces, "reflex." Haha Embry only calls Dad 'Mr. Chehalis' when he's in trouble. I love it.

I chuckle and don't even attempt to hide the giant smile on my face. For as long as I can remember, Dad has been trying to mold Embry into a "proper young man" worthy of, well, any girl willing to put up with him. I keep trying to tell Dad that some dogs just can't learn new tricks but he says Embry's crude ways will change when he meets "the one that will make his world shift."

I still say he's a lost cause.

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" I ask with an irritated tone as my mom drags Seth and I over to the fireplace for a photo. "Aren't you all supposed to be getting a ride with Jared and Kim?"

"Nah, change of plans," Jake says as he plops himself down on the recliner. "Kim decided she didn't want us in the car with her and Jared."

"Oh gee I wonder why," I throw out sarcastically.

"Anastasia," my mom warns, shooting me a look that clearly says 'be nice or I'll have your behind.'

"Where's your car Jake? Why don't you just drive?" Sierra asks, running up next to me so we can pose together in front of the fireplace.

"What is this? Twenty questions? Enough with the jibber-jabber ladies, we got a dance to get to and I have some ladies to see," Embry says as he emerges from the kitchen with a giant piece of lasagna on a paper plate.

"Wait, wait, wait," my mom calls out, waving her hands as everyone heads toward the door. "I want at least one photo of all the boys and then one with Stacy and Paul. So guys, you first."

Loud muttering emits from everyone as we backtrack our way to the living room and all the boys proceed to stand in front of the fireplace. Sierra and I bust out in giggles as Jake, Embry, Quil and Paul purposely position themselves around Seth and John in a menacing manner. The four boys cross their large arms over their wide chests, causing their shirts to stretch tightly over their bodies. I shake my head at the four of them as they stand up to their fullest height in an attempt to seem more intimidating. John's eyes shift from left to right quickly and nervously as he calculates who's next to him and their likelihood to do permanent damage to his body if he upsets them. I shake my head to him, attempting to convey through my actions that none of them will hurt him. I'm surprised he's nervous at all — it's not like this is the first time he's met Paul and his friends before. He used to hang around the guys pretty frequently up until about the beginning of summer. I never discovered why Paul, Quil, Jake and Embry came together again but I have always found it strange that John didn't.

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><p><strong>Seth POV<strong>

Maybe Stacy is right — maybe I am getting sick. I know I've told her repeatedly all week that I feel fine, but I woke up this morning with a high temperature and the slight shakes — something that really freaked me out. I've been dealing with a high fever all week but the shakes were definitely something new and very unexpected. But after a few minutes of walking around my house and a hot shower, they seemed to disappear and only the temperature remained. Yet all day I've felt like the shakes were merely being held at bay, still present but lurking just beneath the surface. Even now I can almost feel my body fighting them off; my heart is beating fast, and there's a distant tingling sensation I can feel deep in my bones. A part of my brain is telling me to just give in and relax, to let the shakes come and to welcome them as a form of release from something I've been trying to hold back for years. But the other part of me (the scared, 14-year-old part of me), knows that if I give in, if I relax for even just a moment, the shaking will be the gateway to something uncontrollable and fierce. I have no actual evidence for this knowledge, and am starting to think I'm losing my mind but it's like a foreboding feeling in the pit of my stomach that there is something very wrong with me. I just wish my parents cared enough to give a damn when I told them about the shaking and the fever.

Even so, I couldn't bring myself to cancel on Stacy because I know how important this dance is to her, and I'd never do anything to upset her. She looks even prettier tonight than I could have ever imagined with her black dress that perfectly matches her curled hair. When she walked into the living room I wanted nothing more than to run up to her, envelop her in a massive hug and tell her over and over how gorgeous she looked. I would have gladly done that too on any other night. Yet out of the corner of my eye I could see Paul watching my every move and something in his stance had me feeling like he was just waiting for an opportunity to pounce me to the ground. I decided against getting my ass kicked by Paul and instead took small, careful steps to greet her. I don't understand it though: Paul and I have always had a good relationship and he's never once said anything against my spending time with Stacy. When Embry, Jake, and Quil came through the front door, though, claiming to need a ride to the dance with us, I finally figured it out: they're going to give me the "Big Brother" speech.

"How you feeling tonight Seth? You're still looking a little rough," Paul asks, eyeing me critically. Quil stands next to him, both looking me up and down with their arms crossed.

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't go out tonight. It'd probably be best if you just rested at home instead," Quil agrees.

"Look, I know you guys only have to go because Stacy is going with me, but really, I'm fine." I look them both in the eyes and for a moment I get the impression that their objections to me taking Stacy to the dance have more to do with simply not wanting her to date. "She's too excited to go; I couldn't cancel on her even if I wanted. I wouldn't hurt her."

"Yeah well sometimes you can't control who you hurt," Paul mumbles before turning toward the front door. The rest of the group follows and I'm about to ask him what he means when Mrs. Chehalis calls us all back for a group photo of the guys.

A loud chorus of sighs and slow shuffling feet respond to her requests as everyone turns back toward the living room. The six of us guys slowly make our way to stand in front of the fireplace and I can't help but smile at the position John and I find ourselves in. As the smallest guys, we stand in the front of the group with Paul, Embry, Quil, and Jake doing their best to intimidate us with their height and muscles from behind us and on either side. I look across the room to see Stacy and Sierra giggling together, probably at the scared look on John's face. I don't know why he's so scared; I'm the one that got the short end of this group shot. Not only am I taking out the little sister to these four guys, but I've also got Jake on my right and Paul behind me — easily two of the biggest and strongest guys out of this group of friends. If it weren't for my good relationship with the whole family (or what I like to imagine is a good relationship at least), I could get my face pummeled at the drop of a hat. Though with the way the four guys have been eyeing me lately, the chances of me getting my butt kicked are starting to look a little greater.

"Oh come on guys, at least _try_ to look like you're excited!" I'm brought out of my thoughts by Mrs. Chehalis who's standing just off center with a big smile on her face and a digital camera in her hand. Behind her, Mr. Chehalis makes faces in an attempt to get the six of us to do something other than stare. John chuckles nervously and an uncertain smile plasters itself on his face. The four menacing beasts surrounding us stand up taller and keep their scowl in its spot. Stacy erupts in laughter from her position on the couch next to Sierra and I can't help the giant smile that forms as the bright light flashes from the camera.

"Okay now Paul and Stacy real fast and then you guys can go," Mrs. Chehalis says, shooing the rest of us away from the fireplace and motioning for Stacy to stand next to her brother.

Stacy hops over to Paul, brushing my arm with her hand as she passes. Unfortunately Embry, Quil, and Jake notice and all three immediately raise their eyebrows; Embry beckons me over with his index finger.

"Listen man," Jake says, throwing his arm over my shoulder, "we know you haven't been feeling well lately so we just wanted to let you know that if you get the shakes or you really start feeling funny, let us know."

"Thanks guys, but, really, I feel fine," I respond nervously, diverting my eyes to anywhere but their faces. Why would they bring up me shaking? Do they know? I don't know how they could unless they spoke to my parents but what are the chances of that? I can't even get my parents to talk to _me_ about it! I glance at Embry and again I get the feeling he knows something.

"Yeah we know, but we just wanted to let you know that we're here for you. We've all been _sick_ before." Jake says the word 'sick' like it means something other than a cold. I nod in response and turn at the sound of Stacy's footsteps.

"Ready guys?" she asks, looking around curiously at Jake, Quil, and Embry standing in a half-circle in front of me.

"Yup," Embry says, clapping his hands together loudly. "Let's get this party on the road! I've got ladies to steal and hearts to break."

"Well have fun kids but boys, no fighting. Oh and Embry," Mr. Chehalis claps his hand on Embry's shoulder as we walk out the door, effectively stopping him in his tracks, "do try and behave yourself. I really don't want to have to pick you up from a school dance because you started a catfight between two sisters. _A__gain_. Understood?"

"But Mr. Chehalis," Embry argues, "it's not my fault the ladies love me! Besides, it was Jake and Paul who tried to turn a simple argument into a mud wrestling match."

Mr. Chehalis sighs deeply, his palm on his forehead. "Either way, try not to get kicked out of the dance this year. And that goes for all of you. I really doubt you want to spend your next two weekends doing yard work for me from sunrise to sunset."

A low chorus of agreement comes from the four guys as we pile into Mr. and Mrs. Chehalis's eight passenger SUV and head off to the school after Sierra and John.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: **So sorry for taking so long to get this chapter out. I was incredibly sick last week and am just starting to feel like myself again. Enjoy the chapter! :)

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

My pack brothers think I'm crazy, but I can feel it deep in my bones: Seth is ready to phase. Tonight.

I could tell the moment he walked through the door this evening to meet Anastasia. His movements were stiff and he was completely aware of every move he made, as though simply stepping toward her was a strongly debated internal decision. And it's pretty clear from the slight perspiration on his forehead that his fever has not gone down.

I know the rest of the guys saw everything I did, but I think they're too scared to admit what's going to happen because admitting it is finally realizing that little Seth Clearwater will be trapped like the rest of us. He won't be able to leave the reservation and start a different life away from the small village of council leaders, elders and an ass load of responsibilities he didn't sign up for. Don't get me wrong. We love the guy and think he'll make a great addition to the pack but it's still mind blowing to picture Seth as a large, fierce wolf — even if we have had a few weeks to get used to the idea.

The look on Seth's face when the guys told him to let us know if he was feeling sick or if he started shaking was pretty much the nail in the coffin in my opinion. I could tell he was trying to remain nonchalant, like what they said had no impact on him. I doubt he even noticed his face lost color, his eyes widened, and he stuttered out his response. Jake emphasizing the word "sick" didn't help much either I'm sure.

He knows we know something; he's just too terrified to say anything. It's not like we'd be able to tell him what was going on anyway. Alpha command. There's no way around it. Can't say I blame him for not bringing it up to us though. We've all been there; we know exactly what's going through his mind. The fear that you're going crazy, terrified there's something wrong with your body, that no one would understand what's happening even if you did tell them. It's a lonely place to be, being a young wolf, especially when all your life you've always thought of the old legends as nothing more than bonfire tales told by the elders.

Surprisingly, Anastasia and Sierra are completely oblivious. Sneak out of the house at night and they don't miss a beat but when their boyfriend is clearly suffering from something more than a cold, they turn a blind eye. I don't get it. But as far as my sister knows, I just don't want Seth making a move on her. Which is partially the truth, but not entirely for the reasons she thinks. The thing is, I know what it's like to be uncontrollable, to constantly be aware of every movement, afraid a small twitch will lead to the transformation you most fear. I just don't want Seth to do something he may regret. Or that I may have to kill him for.

"Dude, it'll be okay," Jake whispers from next to me in the front seat, sensing my shot nerves. "We're all here, we know the signs and hopefully he'll come to us when the shaking really gets crazy. We got this."

"I hope you're right," I say as I turn into the school parking lot. "Although you have to admit things would be a helluva lot easier if we could just tell him what's happening. I still don't get why Sam is making us keep it a secret. I mean, don't you think everything would have been a lot easier if someone had told you what was going on instead of everyone walking around like they didn't notice?"

"And what exactly would you have done if Sam or Jared said you were turning into a wolf?" Jake counters. "'_Oh don't worry about it Paul. You're just turning into a giant wolf so you can fight vampires._' Come on, man, think about it. Waiting until he has already phased is the only way Sam can use his Alpha command and ensure our secret _stays_ a secret. It's for the good of the pack, man, you know it is."

"If you say so," I respond.

I pull into a spot next to Sierra and her date John and jump out of the car to open the door for Anastasia. Sierra rushes over to our car, a giant smile on her face as she drags John by the hand. I try to smile at the poor guy but I think it comes out more as a glare because he immediately puts his head down. Embry, of course, notices and snickers. I don't know why John would be afraid of us. Okay, I get that a group of tall, muscular guys would be intimidating, but it's not like we haven't all known each other for years. Shit, he's not even taking out my sister.

Besides, Jake, Embry, Quil and I have known John since kindergarten and he's always been a pretty nice guy. Quiet and shy, but nice. I remember Jake made the poor kid cry at his seventh birthday party because he broke the piñata before John could even take a swing. As John sat on the grass of his backyard crying his eyes out, the four of us bum rushed the mound of candy that poured from the paper maché party treat and proceeded to stuff our faces silly. John's mom was furious and when my mom came to pick us up, she told her we were brats with no manners. Well anyone who has ever met my mom could guess the scene she made after hearing that. No one is allowed to call her children rude brats except for her. Needless to say, the four of us were never really invited over after that.

John, of course, was always welcome at our house. My mom wasn't going to blame him because his mom was crazy and still pissed about something that happened when we were little kids. He came to be a pretty good friend over the years. He was never as tight as the four of us, but we always invited him over for birthdays and random pick-up football games. Of course, everything changed as soon as the four of us did. We couldn't tell him what was going on so our friendship has kind of faded in the last few months. We're all still friendly with him, but like almost everyone else, John has to remain in the dark about our double lives.

"So John, you and Sierra, eh?" Embry asks, sliding up next to him as Sierra and Anastasia lead the way into the dance. Embry must feel a little bad about leaving John behind lately too because his usual mocking tone is replaced by one of genuine interest. I didn't know it was possible. "I never knew you were interested in her."

"Oh well she asked me and I always thought she was pretty funny so I said yeah." He shrugs his shoulders as if to say it's no big deal. When most guys do this it's really because they couldn't care less, but John's always been painfully shy when it came to girls so this is really his way of saying he's too shy to want to elaborate on the subject.

"That's cool," Jake says, clapping his right hand on John's left shoulder. "Listen man, we know we haven't really been around lately but we're glad you came with all of us tonight. It's always good to have another guy around to help us protect Embry from himself."

We all laugh, thinking back to last year's winter formal when Embry almost got jumped by six seniors for making out with one of their girlfriends. What made it even better was that he was making out with the girl in her boyfriend's car. It would have been the funniest thing if the girl's cousin hadn't gotten jealous and told the boyfriend. It's a good thing Embry has always been fast because her boyfriend brought friends — friends that, at the time, were the biggest guys in the school. While now we (with the exception of John, of course) would have no trouble winning a fight against anybody, at the time Embry would have gotten his ass beat and we all would have been right there in the mix.

"I still don't get how Embry has never gotten his ass handed to him," John says, his eyes bright with happiness and a giant smile on his face. "I mean, sorry to say it Em, but you've never been known for your strength."

"Yeah, well, I'm a little stronger now," Embry says with a slight smile. The rest of the pack snickers as we take a quick glance at each other, each with a knowing smile on our face.

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><p><strong>Stacy POV<strong>

Seriously, my brother must think I'm deaf. I mean, hello! I was sitting barely five feet from him in the car; if he thinks I couldn't hear what him and Jake were saying on the way here, then he's dumber than I thought. I don't know if those guys have realized it or not, but quiet isn't exactly a quality they possess. Although what the hell Jake meant by "signs" and "shaking" is beyond me.

Whatever, I've already decided not to let my crazy brother and his even crazier friends ruin my first high school dance. I'm just here to have fun with my best friend and my … well whatever Seth is. Date? Yeah, let's go with that.

"What are you ladies talking about back there?" Sierra yells back to my brothers. "Hurry up, it's cold out here!"

"We're talking about how we're going to leave your loud butt here tonight and make you walk home after the dance," Jake yells back.

"Only if Paul stays to warm me up. What do you say Paul?" She smiles back at my brother who, visibly shuddering, glances at me, hoping I'll rein in her awkward attempts at flirting.

"Uh, no I'm good," Paul says. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and brings his shoulders up. His body hunches down inward and he scrunches his nose up. He does this sometimes when he feels especially awkward. Or most times when Sierra's around.

I smack her hard on the arm. "Stop being creepy," I scold. "And remember, you have a date. Don't be rude to John," I whisper over the loud calls of "She wants you, Sweets!" and "Watch out John, you've got competition!" and "Hey Paul did you remember the chocolate sauce?" I don't understand the last one completely but I'm getting disturbing mental pictures so I'm guessing it's in my best interests to let it go.

"Sorry but your brother just gets to me sometimes." She shudders as if my brother's good looks are just too much for her to bear.

"Ugh, good God woman get a hold of yourself. That's my brother you're talking about! What is wrong with you?" Now I'm the one uncomfortable. "Can we please go one night without me having to pry you away from my brother?"

"Fine. But you will not stop my thoughts!" She whispers, pointing her finger in my face. I laugh at her. Poor thing, when it comes to my brother, the only setting she has is 'creepy.' "John you have the tickets right? Let's get in before we freeze to death."

John rushes up to her side, tickets in hand, and together they stroll into the dance. I put my left hand out, expecting Seth to grab it so we can walk inside together but all I grab is cold air. I flip around, looking for him among the small crowd of people walking toward the gym.

"What's wrong Stacy?" Jake asks as him and the rest of the guys catch up to me.

"Where's Seth? He was just next to me a second ago." I stand on my tiptoes, hoping to catch a glimpse of his giant form among the crowd. How did he just vanish like that? How did I not notice? How did the _guys_ not notice? They notice everything!

"Found him!" calls Embry from behind a beat up truck toward the back of the parking lot. "He's tossing his cookies. Damn Clearwater take it easy, you're going to start puking up organs next."

I rush over to where Embry is standing to see Seth bent over, one hand on his stomach and the other holding himself up by the bed of the rusty old truck.

"Oh my God, are you okay Seth?" I look around for my brother, wondering what to do all the while rubbing Seth's back. I don't know what else to do but it always makes me feel better when Mom does this when I get sick. I hear quiet arguing behind me and I turn around to see Paul talking in a hushed tone with Jake and at the same time having a heated but quiet argument with someone on the phone. "Paul! Help!"

Paul gives me a quick glance and a small head nod. A simple acknowledgement is all I get as a friend of ours is doubled over puking his brains out. "Paul! Stop being an ass and help him!"

I turn back around to Seth, muttering furiously to myself and trying to think of anything I can do to soothe him. The only thing that keeps coming to my mind is to talk to him but he's retching so violently that nothing I do seems to be working. I've never seen someone get so sick like this. I feel like I'm in some kind of horrible exorcism-meets-teenage slasher film.

"Come on sweetie, let Jake and the guys handle it. Let's go into the dance, they'll meet us in there." Jared's girlfriend Kim comes out of nowhere and gently tugs on my arm to get me out of the way.

"Kim, stop," I say as I tug my arm out of her grip. I like Kim and everything, but I also don't know her that well. Even so, I don't want to be mean and yell at her, but it's a little hard when she wants me to just leave Seth to fend for himself while my brothers stand around like idiots. "I'm not just going to leave him. He needs help. Someone needs to take him home. I knew him coming out tonight was a bad idea. Stupid boys and their machoness."

While I bicker with Kim, I can still hear Seth throwing up violently from behind me. I keep my hand on his back, rubbing slow circles to calm him. For whatever reason, Jake, Embry, Quil and Jared crowd around my brother and talk in hushed whispers. It's like they don't even see their friend is sick!

"Sorry to break up the girl fest but can one of you guys come help?" I'm starting to get fed up and the angrier I get, the more biting my tone.

I turn around to ask Seth what he wants me to do in time to see him put his fist through the side of the truck and let out an ear-splitting scream. He lurches forward, clawing at his body as his breath comes out in heavy gasps. He sounds like a fish out of water.

And then I hear the cracking coming from inside his body and it's like I'm back in my living room at home with Paul and the couch is shaking. I can almost hear my parents laughing in the kitchen before reality hits and I remember that I'm not at my house but in the school parking lot with Seth. And something is very wrong.

Seth's body starts to shake and a low, guttural growl rumbles up from his throat. The heavy breathing continues but with each breath, a bit of his clothing tears. Bit by bit, the fabric on his shirt ebbs away from itself and all I can do is stand by with my mouth open.

The tearing of his clothes and cracking of his bones causes him to thrash around on the floor, slamming his own body back and forth like a pendulum between the truck and a blue minivan. He looks up and I can see the sweat pouring down his face; his veins protrude from underneath his skin as his face turns a dark shade of red and he rips at his chest like he's on fire. He catches my eye and I see nothing but black in place of the light brown eyes I love.

I timidly walk toward him, my hand outstretched. "Seth?"

"STACY! NO!" Jake screams.

And then Seth lunges.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN:** I hope you are all liking the story so far! Be sure to let me know what you think. Enjoy the chapter! :)

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><p><strong>Jake POV<strong>

The thing about Paul is that he worries too much. More to the point, he worries too much about Stacy. At the moment he's terrified she'll get hurt either because Seth will imprint on some other girl and break her heart or because Seth will lose control and we'll have another girl with scars like Emily's on our hands. I mean yeah, sure, Seth is in the middle of throwing up everything he's ever eaten in his life, but it's not like he's going to phase right this second. My guess is we have a good ten to fifteen minutes to get him the hell out of here. All we have to do is tell Stacy we're taking him home, drag him into the woods, call Sam, and gather around while he phases for the first time.

Yeah, it's his time.

Everyone's first time shifting is different. Sam's and my body temperature rose so fast and so hot we thought we were on fire and Jared said his head hurt so bad he lost his vision for a couple minutes. For some reason Quil was in a lot of pain. Not that it doesn't hurt in general the first time (I mean, c'mon, you're changing into a _wolf!)_, but from the flashbacks I've gotten from his mind and the rest of the pack's, it was definitely the most painful for him.

But it's not like I'm not worried for Stacy because I totally am. There is always the potential for one of us to lose control and phase too close to somebody on accident, especially when you're still learning how to control your anger and your inner wolf. Stacy is like the little sister I wish I had (older sisters are too nosy. Well mine are at least), Paul is flat out my brother, and Mom and Dad Chehalis are what I wish my parents were: happy, loving, attentive, supportive. Alive.

After my mom died, things were really hard. There was the normal grieving period every family goes through, except it's been eight years and my two older twin sisters, Rachel and Rebecca, and my dad don't seem to be moving on. It's not to say that I don't miss my mom because I do. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her. I used to wear a necklace with her photo on one side and her initials, date of birth and the day she died on the other but with how often we phase (and sometimes without our control), it would be easy for me to forget I'm wearing it, phase and lose it forever in the woods. I can't take that risk. So now I keep it hanging on a hook on the wall next to my bed so she's the last thing I see before I go to sleep and the first thing I see in the morning. Every once in a while I'll talk to the photo as if my mom were still here. I'll update her on what's going on with the pack, with my life, and how my sisters and dad are doing. I'm sure it's pretty strange and when the guys first heard about me doing it, they thought it was weird too. But talking to the photo of my mom, knowing I can say anything, helps me keep a connection with her and release some stress when I have no one else to turn to.

I've never been able to pinpoint why my dad and sisters have a harder time moving on than I do. Rachel says it's because I was still young when she died so I don't have as many memories of her but I don't think that's true. I have plenty of memories of my mom that range from yelling at me to clean my room to starting a food fight in our kitchen. No, I think it's because I have another family: the Chehalises. When Dad would drop me off at Paul's so he could help Rachel and Rebecca deal with our mom's death, I sometimes felt abandoned and unloved. As if my grief wasn't as important as theirs. I think if I were anywhere but at Paul's, it would have really affected me. But William and Leila have always been there for me and made me (in addition to Quil and Embry), feel like I was as much their kid as Paul and Stacy. They always ask about our days, help us with problems, make sure we're doing our best in school, and overall let us know they care. They even grounded me one time because I failed a math test.

So yeah, looking out for Stacy is definitely high on my list of priorities. I figure it's the least I can do for Mom and Dad Chehalis after all they have done for me.

But freaking out in the middle of our school's parking lot while Seth is getting sick instead of acting normal and just taking him home is only going to make Stacy more curious about us.

"I told you! I told you he was going to phase tonight. But no, everybody thought I was fucking paranoid but look what happened. Seth is over there puking his brains out. All we need now is for him to start shaking and phase in the fucking parking lot and then we'll really have a party," Paul fumes while dialing Sam's house number. "God damn it Sam answer the fucking phone!"

The sound of Stacy's shrill and excited voice screaming at us to help Seth is the only sound breaking through Paul's growls and sailor language.

"Hey, chill. I'll call Jared, tell him to get over here and we'll get Kim to drag her inside or something." I pull out my phone to call Jared when his parent's car pulls into the parking lot. "See? He's already here. We'll get Kim to take her inside, tell her we're taking Seth home and it's all good. Crisis averted."

"Jake this is us we're talking about. There is no such thing as 'crisis averted.'" Paul lets out a frustrated growl while redialing Sam's house number.

It's true that Paul, Quil, Embry, and I don't exactly have the best luck. It seems like anytime we think we've come up with a full-proof plan and announce 'crisis averted,' the shit hits the fan. Case in point: the time we broke into the principal's office at school to fix some of our grades. We walked out, high-fived each other and said 'crisis averted' because our parents were never going to find out we had received a few 'D's. How were we supposed to know the school had just installed cameras in the administration office?

Stupid technology at stupid schools. It's like they don't even trust us.

"Jake what's going on with Seth? Is it time?" Jared runs up to Paul and I while Kim rushes to Stacy's side. I can hear her attempting to coax Stacy into the dance but she isn't having it. I don't know why, but that girl seems to have gotten significantly sassier lately and, at the moment, that's the last thing we need.

"Yeah I think so. We've probably got about fifteen minutes to get him out of here. Paul is trying to get a hold of Sam right now so he can meet us in the woods." I glance over to check on Stacy and see she's still refusing to leave Seth's side as he continues to be fiercely sick.

We don't have much time.

"Sam what took you so long to answer the phone? Seth's throwing up so hard he's about to lose a lung. It's time, you need to phase and meet us in the woods immediately." Paul speaks quickly and quietly to Sam but I can tell he's using a great amount of control to not shake and yell.

"Sorry to break up the girl fest but can one of you guys come help?" Stacy yells over to us.

I turn around in time to see Seth punch his hand through the bed of the truck. He begins to scratch at his body, ripping holes in his clothing, no doubt in an attempt to put out the fire he's feeling in his chest. His breathing slows down as if he's having trouble getting air into his lungs and the shrillest scream escapes from his throat. From where I stand I can see the sweat pouring down his back and soaking through his shirt. He starts pulling at his hair and with each half a second the cracking of his bones gets louder and sharper.

"Hurry up man, we gotta go," I urgently tell Paul, keeping my eyes focused on Stacy and Seth. It's time to take action. "Jared: go around the truck and approach Seth from the front so if he shifts and lunges it'll be at you. Quil and Embry: form a wall on either side of Stacy and get ready to shove Seth toward Jared and Stacy back. Tell Kim to grab her and take her home; tell her to use whatever force she has to and to let William and Leila know what happened. Jared, give Kim your keys so she can get Stacy home. Got it?"

They nod their heads in understanding and casually walk over to take their positions so as not to raise any alarm. I watch them and see Embry whisper in Kim's ear and her nod her head slightly and slowly in nervous understanding.

"What do you mean you've been dealing with Leah? Dude, now is not the time to take a stroll down memory lane with your ex-girlfriend," Paul yells into the phone.

Why would Sam be hanging out with Leah? The history of Sam and Leah is the number one case study on imprinting gone wrong. Emily and Leah are cousins and before Emily started dating Sam, they were as close as sisters. Leah and Sam were high school sweethearts. Everyone assumed they were going to get married and be the poster family of the reservation what with her parents being elders and Sam being the golden child that triumphed despite an alcoholic father and a depressed mother. But things took a rocky turn when Sam phased for the first time because he couldn't tell Leah why he was never around or was all of a sudden so tired. Not being an imprint, the elders and Sam agreed that she couldn't be a part of the secret. Which is pretty sad considering both her parents are elders and knew what was going on the entire time. When Emily came to visit Leah from the Makah reservation one weekend, Sam ran into her at Connweller's Grocery and imprinted immediately. Emily, not knowing what was happening, just thought her cousin's boyfriend was creepily hitting on her. Sam knew it wasn't fair to Leah to stay with her when his whole being was now devoted to Emily so he broke it off with her. She's hated Emily and Sam ever since and made no effort to hide it.

"She did what? Holy fuck! Are you sure? Yeah, okay, we're already in position around him. We'll meet you in the woods as soon as we can." Paul hangs up his phone in a hurry and turns to me with a disbelieving look on his face. I open my mouth to ask what happened when a sound stops me in my tracks.

"Seth?" The sound of Stacy softly calling Seth's name draws mine and Paul's attention because a tone that soft and laced with curiosity can only mean one thing: she's approaching him.

I look around at everyone in their individual positions and it's like I'm seeing everything in slow motion.

Jared is crouched by the hood in the front of the minivan, slightly out of sight so Stacy doesn't see him; Embry and Kim are still in whispered conversation while Quil looks on determinately from Stacy's left side. Sure enough Stacy is slowly walking toward Seth with her hand outstretched. But it's too late, he's too far gone; the darkness in his eyes means the wolf has already taken over.

There's no time for excuses or discussions or carefully executed plans. Only Stacy seems to be the one not in the know.

"STACY! NO!" I scream as Seth lunges at her.

Her eyes widen in shock and she turns to me just as she catches a small glimpse of Seth's new wolf form. Quil jumps in front of her and throws his body at Seth, using all of his strength to knock him back into the truck before he touches Stacy or Kim. Embry takes the opportunity to shove her and Kim out of the way. The lightweight of their bodies combined with Embry's strength sends them stumbling down the row of cars at least two parking spaces. They fall to the ground from the force, Kim on her front and Stacy on her back, bumping her head on the asphalt as she drops. Kim jumps up and, using Stacy's dazed state against her, drags her to Jared's car and peels out of the parking lot toward Paul's house.

Paul, in a fit of pure rage and uncontrolled emotion, phases and pounces on Seth, his large, silver form crashing against Seth's sandy colored fur in a fit of snarls, yelps and growls; their shredded clothes fall lazily to the ground like snowflakes.

"Paul, cut it out!" I yell. "Woods now. Everyone phase."

I stand guard by Paul, making sure he doesn't kill Seth before Sam can talk to him. The rest of the guys quickly strip off the remainder of their clothes and phase just out of sight from the gym doors. The four of them, along with newly wolfed-out Seth, jog into the woods; Paul separated from Seth by Embry, Quil, and Jared. I glance around me to make sure no one is watching us before trailing behind them. The loud music from the gymnasium reverberates around me and I can feel the bass of the song pound alongside my heartbeat. The sound of roaring voices singing off key to the song can be heard even as I near the edge of the woods. For a small moment I can't help my anger at everyone inside the gymnasium having a good time. Here I am, about to ease a 14-year-old kid into the lifestyle of a La Push protector when I'm only 16 years old myself. I should be the one in the gym dancing with my friends and girls. I should be the one who skips out on curfew and comes home to my mom waiting angrily for me on the couch in the living room.

In this small moment I feel so many 'shoulds' and 'wants,' so many things that could've happened had I not been born into a family with the wolf gene on either side; a family tree that, by birthright, makes me the true Alpha and tribal leader of the Quileute tribe and its people.

A 16-year-old telling the elders what to do? Yeah, that'd go down real well.

A loud howl in the woods disrupts me from my thoughts and I run to join my pack brothers, stripping off my clothes as soon as I'm hidden in the protection of the woods.

'_Hurry Jake, there's more to explain than you think,'_ Sam directs at me.

In his mind I can see he's not too far from the school, in a clearing where we often meet to discuss fighting tactics and hunting methods. Standing lazily around are the rest of the guys, each absorbed in their own thoughts centered on food or their imprint. Except for Paul, who's thinking of different ways to maim Seth for almost injuring Stacy.

Food and girls; I guess not everything about us is so different from a normal teenager.

'_That's right man. Food and babes. That's how I live my life.'_ Embry chuckles to himself.

'_Oh please Em, the only thing you've felt up is your own dick,'_ Jared snickers.

'_Haha, but even his penis can't stand him. That's why it's so small — it's shrinking away from his touch,'_ Paul laughs, earning a mental high five from Jared.

Embry's growls are the only warning Jared receives before he's tackled to the ground by a blur of grey and black. Embry snips at Jared's neck and slams his front paws into his chest. But Jared is a more experienced fighter and gains the upper hand in one swift hook that hits Embry like a bulldozer. The shock from the hit distracts him for a second and Jared uses it to his advantage by rolling over and throwing his large wolf body on top of Embry, biting any piece of Embry he can get his teeth on. A small whimper is released before Sam finally calls an end to the wrestling match.

I make it to the wide open clearing just as Sam pulls Jared off Embry and run smack into a small grey wolf.

'_What the fuck? I thought Seth was more of a brownish color?'_ I automatically think.

'_Watch where you're going Black!'_ The female voice of Leah Clearwater enters my mind and I jump back in surprise.

'_How the hell is Leah Clearwater in my thoughts?'_ I look to Sam and the rest of the pack for an explanation. _'Am I the only one hearing her? What the hell is going on?'_

'_I'm in your thoughts because I'm a wolf you idiot.'_ Her sneering tone and angry attitude are as clear in her thoughts as they are in her voice. _'Seth isn't the only one who phased for the first time tonight.'_

"Everyone change back. This will be easier and probably less violent if we're not wolves," Sam commands before I can come up with a retort. It always surprises me how he's able to shift back to human form without any of us taking notice until we hear his voice instead of his thoughts. "Leah and Seth, remember what I told you. In order to change back to your human form just tune everything out and think about your bodies; how it feels to walk on two feet or use your hands or speak vocally instead of through your thoughts. I put clothes for you guys in the trees behind you so you can change without feeling uncomfortable. But start to get used to the idea of being naked around these guys. It's a horrible sight but when you shift with your clothes on you tear them to pieces and when you change back you're nude."

The rest of us phase where we are while (thankfully) Seth and Leah head into the woods in search of their clothes.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN:** Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think! :)

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><p><strong>Sam POV<strong>

Yeah, because having my ex-girlfriend become a member of the pack is exactly what I need. It's not enough that I'm a part time babysitter to five teenagers and have a new 14-year-old wolf to train, but now I also have to train my ex and pretend like there isn't a part of me that still cares for her.

The thing about imprinting is that it's so unexpected you don't get a chance to adjust to it. It's just 'BOOM!' a new person is now your entire being. There is no 'Hey, let's get lunch' or 'Would you like to watch a movie with me tonight?' or any semblance of a friendship stage. Well, at least for me it was never like that.

As the first member of this pack to phase, all of my experiences are drastically different than everybody else's. Jared, Paul and the rest of those guys had it pretty easy because there was already somebody who could tell them what this new life of theirs really meant. Sure the elders told me the old stories again and explained what it meant for my future, but they never explained how to shift back into a human or how to control my random bursts of phasing or even that phasing back into a human leaves you naked (though I figured that one out for myself pretty quickly). There was no one to tell me because I was the first wolf in two generations and much of what I have been able to teach the pack I had to figure out on my own.

Walking around for two weeks as a wolf until I was able to calm down enough to phase back into my normal body was the scariest time of my life. If Quil Ateara Sr. hadn't come to visit my mom and figured it out when he shook my hand, I might not have ever stayed.

Imagine that, never stay and never meet Emily. Never stay and never betray Leah.

Two very different scenarios that are so dependent on one another.

There will always be a part of me that loves Leah. Well, the old Leah — the one that shined before I broke her. She was funny, beautiful, kind hearted, loving and able to show me that my father's choices are not a reflection of me. She was the love of my life and I was going to marry her as soon as she graduated high school. I even had my proposal all planned out. I was going to take her to this very clearing, the same one where we spent so many nights just staring up at the stars, and ask her to be Mrs. Sam Uley.

I was on a small food run for Leah the day I walked into Connweller's Grocery. She wanted to bake a cake for her cousin Emily Young before she got to the house. I had met Emily before and thought she was a really nice girl. Her and Leah were like sisters and whatever made my Leah happy made me happy. But then Emily turned around at the cash register and that day became the happiest and saddest day of my life.

I knew I could never stay with Leah after I had imprinted; I loved her too much to not give her every part of me. Besides, she deserved someone who wasn't about to proclaim his love to her cousin.

After my awkward run-in with Emily (in which I know she thought I was being a slime ball because I was dating her cousin but was obviously attracted to her), I ran to the elders' lodge to find Leah's parents, Harry and Sue Clearwater. Being elders, they knew all about my being a wolf and also knew that, even though I was still dating their daughter and had every intention of marrying her, there was always the possibility that I could imprint on another girl. And if that ever happened, I would have no choice but to love her and be whatever she needed me to be. They understood and promised me that, should the situation ever arise, they would help Leah understand as well.

No one knows this except Emily and the elders, but after I broke it off with Leah, I tried to kill myself. Multiple times.

I had thought that as long as I had Leah, I could live as a wolf and handle all of the freaky shit that was now expected of me. So when I lost Leah, I thought I had lost my life and figured I might as well literally end it.

Everyone in the pack thinks Emily got the three deep, red slashes on her face from standing too close to me when I angrily phased one day. But the truth is that she stopped me from clawing myself to death. I figured I could do more harm to myself physically as a wolf than I could as a human and she got slashed in the midst of grabbing my paw to stop me. Because even though she hated me for hurting her cousin, she felt the pull of the imprint just as strongly as I did. Some part of her cared for me and even though she didn't understand it, she knew she needed to talk to me in order to figure it out.

Miraculously she didn't run screaming and the shock from what I had done immediately shifted me back and I was able to take her to the hospital. It was actually Emily that came up with the story that she was mauled by a bear during salmon spawning season. After that, things got a little easier and I knew it was all going to work out. A lot of that is because of Emily. The thing is, I knew I loved Emily the moment I imprinted on her at Connweller's Grocery but I was still adapting to this new life and the thought of losing Leah just sent me over the edge.

I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself for the pain I caused Leah. I know it wasn't my fault, but catching the look on her face when she would see Emily and I together will always be etched into my mind. As if seeing me around the reservation wasn't hard enough, she soon had to hear from her parents that Emily and I were together and moving faster toward marriage than her and I ever were. I had thought I would at least be able to spare her this paused life on the reservation because now that she wasn't with me, she would be able to move away and go to college and experience everything the world has to offer; find somebody who isn't living the life of a mythical creature. But when I got the call from Sue tonight, all of that changed.

Now here I stand, in the same clearing where I was going to propose, with my ex-girlfriend and her little brother as members of the Quileute wolf pack. They will know the pack secrets, learn that the legends are true, and be more involved with Emily and me than they ever wanted to be again.

I shake my head, clearing my mind of my thoughts as Leah and Seth emerge from the trees after changing into their clothes. They stand awkwardly at the edge of the group; staring around at the men whom they thought were just steroid-abusing, overgrown giants. I follow their eyes and manage to catch Leah's. We stare each other down and, even though it's been two years since we broke up, I can still see the hurt and betrayal in her deep brown eyes. I am sure that for as long as she continues to phase and be a member of the pack, that look will only increase. The thought alone breaks my heart a little all over again.

"So is someone going to please explain how the hell Leah is a wolf?" Jake asks. "I don't want to have to be censoring myself just because there's now a girl in the mix."

I want to tell him to shut up or make him run patrol every night for the next six months for his rude behavior toward Leah, but I can't. This is the same way he would talk to the rest of the guys and I must remember not to show any special treatment even if I do want to protect Leah, maybe now more than ever because probably out of everybody, she will have the hardest time adjusting to this new life. Especially when she's now going to not only be around Emily and me almost twenty-four seven, but also share my thoughts.

"That's enough Jake," I bark out harsher than I intended. "You're starting to sound like Embry."

The snickers from Jared and Quil, the "You got told!" from Paul, and the resounding "Hey!" from Embry play like background noise in a movie as I connect eyes with Leah again.

Oh boy, this is going to take some getting used to.

"Seth and Leah, the quick and simple explanation is that you are now Quileute warriors. The legends are true: descendants of Taha Aki morph into wolves to fight the Cold Ones and protect our people. You are now members of this wolf pack and I am your Alpha. As you have already discovered, all thoughts are shared among the pack when in wolf form so I suggest you learn to block from your thoughts anything you don't want shared. During the next few months you will be trained by your fellow brothers on how to use your new body to fight and track Cold Ones as well as how to control your phasing. At the moment, you are a newborn wolf and your phasing will be almost uncontrollable so for at least the next week you will not attend school. Instead you will report to my house every morning at seven. Your parents are already aware of everything." I pause in the middle of my speech to let all the new information sink in. Probably out of anybody on the reservation, Seth and Leah are the most familiar with the legends because their parents are elders and on the council so I don't have to go into deep explanation regarding the legends and their eerie truth.

Seth shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot, his dark brown eyes downcast as he glances around at the rest of the guys from underneath his eyelashes. When I first found out he was going to phase and become one of us, I was absolutely speechless. He is the nicest kid I have ever met and him and I grew really close when Leah and I were dating. Obviously things took a bit of a sour turn when we broke up but after a few months, he started coming around again and we were able to remain friends when Leah wasn't around. I knew he was a descendant of Taha Aki, but I never thought he'd end up like the rest of us. At least I know the rest of the guys will be happy to have him around. Leah, on the other hand, is going to be a different matter.

I look over at her, still standing next to Seth, to see how she's taking all of this. More than anything I wish I could read her mind — and only hers — to find out if there's anything I can do to ease her pain and newfound burden. Instead, she stares coldly at me, making no movement or sound.

"Do you guys have any questions? Any immediate concerns? There's a lot more for you to learn but you'll pick it up as you get used to everything." I get no response other than a frightened look from Seth and a withering glare from Leah. I automatically soften a little. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in but —"

"Do I have to?" The harsh sound of Leah's voice cuts off my speech. I had no idea where I was going with it at that point anyway.

"What the fuck does that mean? 'Do I have to?' Why the hell would you not want to?" Embry jumps up from his spot on the forest floor and slowly starts making his way toward Leah. His large hands curl up at his sides, his eyes become mere slits, and his voice gets rougher and louder with each word. He's halfway across the field before Jared and Quil jump up to restrain him. He's angry and I understand why. To the rest of the pack, being a wolf is incredible. While the job has its drawbacks, they are proud of what they do and the protection they provide for our people. To Embry, Leah's comment is like a slap in the face for all they've sacrificed. "If you don't want to be here, then don't be. I don't want some pathetic lovesick girl who won't have my back in the pack anyway."

"Embry shut your mouth!" His mouth clamps down hard on itself and I can hear his teeth grind as he tries to fight the command.

I don't like to Alpha command any of the boys. The idea of my being able to take away their free will to make their own decisions is too much for me to comprehend. I figure it's bad enough they're forced to be wolves and patrol on nights when I know they'd rather be at the beach chasing girls. I have always promised myself that if there was ever a chance I could give the guys an option, I would. But Embry crossed the line this time. Regardless of my feelings or past with Leah, it's absolutely imperative that everyone in the pack trusts each other. If we can't trust our fellow brothers (or sister as our situation has now become), then we put everyone in the pack, as well as in the tribe, in danger. And I just can't have that. "Sit down. All of you. Please."

They wordlessly drop where they are and face me, although Seth seems to be the only one interested in what I'm going to say. I can tell from Jared's face that he just wants to get back to Kim and from the way Paul is growling at Seth and being restrained by Jake, he's still pissed that Seth phased in front of his sister. Leah, as is going to be custom I presume, just sits and glares at me. God I can't wait to get home to Emily and normalcy. Well, normal for us anyway.

"OK, look. You're not all going to get along all the time. That's fine, I expect that. But let me make this crystal clear, because I will not repeat myself — we are a family. Look around; these are your brothers and sister. Like it or not, you will be spending a lot of time with each other for years to come. I don't care if you don't love each other, but you _will_ respect each other and you _will_ protect each other. What we do is dangerous and deadly and if we can't trust each other, then we're useless. Absolute trust is the most important element to what we do and I will not tolerate anything less. Am I making myself clear?" They nod their heads in unison and a general murmur of agreement waves through the rest of the pack — except for Leah, who only nods her head after seeing that Seth is on board. She'll never admit it, but Seth is her weakness. She'll stay on and hate life and look after the rest of the guys if only to protect Seth. "Good. Seth and Leah, I want to talk to you. Seth first. Paul, go home and smooth things over with your sister. I saw through your mind that she fell so make sure she's okay. Call me if you need anything. Embry and Quil, I'll need you guys to run patrol tonight. Jared and Jake, you two relieve them in the morning at six and we'll jump back to normal rotation tomorrow. We'll incorporate Leah and Seth in a week or two. You're all dismissed."

Everyone but Leah and Seth jump up, phase and head into the woods to either run patrol or head home. Slowly, Seth gets up from the floor next to his sister; his tall, gangly body awkwardly makes its way over to me, tripping up slightly on his feet a few times.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to your newfound growth in a few days. It's your strength that'll be the hardest to get used to. I can't even begin to tell you how many things I've broken at Emi– I mean Embry's." I take a quick glance to Leah who is still sitting on the floor, cleaning her nails. I know Emily is still a tremendously sore subject for her and I don't mean to bring her up but it's hard not to when she is such a big part of my life. "Just, uh, don't hug Sue for a little bit."

"Haha yeah sure, I'll try to remember that. But, uh, Sam," he puts his head down and starts kicking the dirt in an attempt to hide whatever he's too embarrassed to say. "Don't say anything to the guys, but I'm scared."

I put my hand behind my neck, trying to massage out the stress. He's too young for this.

"I know Seth, and it's OK," I say as I pat him on the shoulder. "Listen, the guys are going to give you a hard time no matter what because you're the youngest and the smallest but they're here for you, as are Emily and I. I know it's frightening and it's a lot to take in, but give it time. It's not every day you find out you can morph into a giant bear-size wolf."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just that … I don't know if I can do this. I mean, be a protector, fight vampires, patrol the reservation — be a WOLF! And look at me!" Seth says with desperation, waving his hand at his overlarge body, "I'm in the eighth grade and I look like I'm in my twenties! That's not normal Sam! What am I going to do when people start asking questions? How do I explain that I'm going to miss school for a week? How do I tell Stacy that I can now explode into a giant ball of fur without my control?"

And this is exactly why there should be some kind of magical age limit on wolf transformations. A 14-year-old kid can't handle this kind of pressure.

"Well first of all, Stacy can't know anything about your new life." Immediately his face drops. I've seen through the rest of the guys how Seth looks at Paul's little sister so I'm sure the shock that he can't tell one of his best friends his biggest secret ever is pretty heavy. "In order to do what we do, we have to let other people on the reservation believe that we're no more than a legend — a myth — told by the elders to keep children in line. The only people that know are tribal elders such as your parents, imprints, and immediate family members of the pack except for Stacy and Embry's mom, Tiffany. Is that clear?"

"I don't understand," Seth says slowly, "why is it that immediate family members can know but Stacy and Embry's mom aren't in on it? And what's an imprint?"

Oh great, the imprint conversation. I was really hoping to save all my energy on that topic for when it came to dealing with Leah.

"I'll explain imprints later," I say dismissively, waving the topic away with a flick of my hand. "The important thing is that Stacy and Tiffany don't know because Paul and Embry don't want them to know. Their reasoning is their own and all we can do as a pack is respect that. Now I know Stacy is one of your best friends and you really like her but it's up to Paul to decide if he wants to let her in on the secret and as of right now he chooses not to. Got it?"

He nods his head in a defeated acceptance. Good thing he doesn't know what an Alpha command feels like yet or he'd realize he couldn't tell her even if he wanted.

"And another thing: for your safety and Stacy's, I don't want you to see or talk to her until I give the OK."

"So what, like the weekend or something?" he asks hopefully.

"At the very least it'll be two weeks," I respond.

Seth's face drops. As if finding out he can't tell his best friend the biggest secret in the world wasn't enough, he now discovers he can't even see her.

"Listen Seth, it's just for a little bit, until you get your phasing under control."

"But I am under control! I changed back to a human fine and I haven't randomly burst into fur while we've been talking," Seth pleads. "Please Sam. I promise I won't hurt her and I won't say a word about what we are."

The look in his eyes tells me that it's there, the one thing I worry about most when it comes to the guys (and now girl too): desperation for their normal life. All of the boys had it at one point: when I told Jake he couldn't tell Bella about us (although he found a way around that one); when Paul made the decision to not tell his sister about the pack; when I told Embry he had to avoid Jake and Quil until it was their time to phase; when Jared found out what he was; and when Quil found out he almost killed his grandfather by phasing for the first time. When they get to this point, they will do almost anything to return to their everyday lives and when that's the case, their mind isn't where it needs to be: on patrol. I'm no heartless asshole. I know probably better than anyone in the pack how hard it is to adjust to this new way of living, but I feel responsible for all of them and I need them to be focused at all times. And even though I know by now the look is inevitable, I feel worse for Seth than I did any of the other pack members. Maybe it's because he's only 14. Or maybe it's because I can sympathize more with his situation than I could with any of the other guys: having to give up the girl you've always taken for granted for a life you never dreamed of being real.

"I'm sorry Seth but you have to realize that I'm doing this for her safety as well as yours." I hold up my hand before he can interject with another argument about him being safe. "You don't understand. Stacy is the most important person to Paul, and the rest of the guys treat her as if she were their own baby sister. If you were to accidently phase, even in the smallest moment of weakness, and hurt her, there is no way I would be able to stop Paul from killing you. I may be the alpha of this pack but some bonds run deeper and I can't take that risk. You've been around them enough to know how they regard her and the lengths they will go to protect her. And even though you didn't have any problems phasing back and aren't a big ball of fur at the moment, you're still a new wolf and can phase at the drop of a hat without your control. This is nothing against you; we just want to make sure all of our loved ones are safe when we're around them. Trust me, Seth, this is what's best for everyone."

He drops his head and slumps his shoulders in defeat. Seth is no fool; he knows Paul would even attack Jake, Quil, or Embry when it comes to his sister. Besides, I don't think Paul would let Stacy around Seth even if I did OK the idea. The only way around it would be if he imprinted on her but what are the chances of that?

"I promise you, Seth, that everything will work out." I make my voice gentler and try to seem more understanding, hoping it will offer him some amount of comfort. "We can talk more tomorrow but tonight I want you to go straight home and go to bed. And don't even think about stopping by Stacy's to see her because Paul is home and I guarantee he is on high alert after the way you almost lunged at his sister."

He nods his head slowly and brings his hand up to his face very quickly to wipe away a few stray tears. I pretend to concentrate on a mole on my hand to give him some privacy and when I'm sure he's done, I pat him on the shoulder and motion with my head for him to leave. I follow him with my eyes out of the cover of the trees toward the school before giving the signal to Quil (who is hiding just out of sight in the trees behind me) to follow Seth home.

A disgruntled sigh brings me back to reality and I remember I have one more Clearwater to talk to before I can go home to someone who doesn't want to rip my face off. My hand comes up to my face to rub away the stress of the night and I take a step forward to have the one conversation with Leah I never thought would happen.

I watch timidly as she slowly gets up from the forest floor and nonchalantly brushes off the dirt and leaves from the seat of her pants. She doesn't look at me and I'm not sure if that means she's going to make this conversation easy or hard. Then she does look at me and I know it's the latter. I should've known: it is Leah after all.

"So this is it, huh? This is the big fucking secret you couldn't tell me. This is why you were never around, why my parents always told me not to worry about it, why my mom has been on the phone with you a lot over the past few weeks — because I assume they know. I overheard enough of your conversation with Seth to guess they've been in on the secret this whole time. I'm right aren't I?" She pauses only long enough for me to nod in response. "So I'm the only person who didn't know. I must have looked like a real big fucking idiot to you didn't I? While you were off protecting the tribe I was sitting at home, worried about you — about us! — and yet you, my parents, and the rest of the elders were in on this big secret. Talking, whispering, and pitying me behind my back. And now I'm sure the rest of the guys know too, huh? Did you have a big laugh about it when you finally got your big group of boys together? 'The pathetic girl the entire town pities doesn't even know the truth about why her boyfriend left her. She's so pathetic.' What a big fucking riot that must have been for you all."

"No, please, Leah, it wasn't like that," I try to explain. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy conversation and I knew my actions had caused her a lot of pain, but I never imagined that she thought I would laugh at her or what had happened between us. "I know you won't believe anything I say but I swear to you that I mourned our relationship too. You weren't the only one who was hurt when things ended. Ask your parents. Your mom and dad found me dozens of times outside your window and in the trees on the side of your house, broken up over what happened. I couldn't tell you, Leah. I wanted to but it was for everyone's safety that you didn't know; the elders and I made the decision. Your parents promised me they would do what they could to help you if I ever imprinted and had to end things."

"Ah yes, imprinting. That beautiful connection with another person that ties you to this earth and lets you know they're your soul mate," she says sarcastically, throwing her hands up in the air. My breath catches in my throat for a second; I'm too stunned that she knows about imprinting to retort. I hadn't meant to bring it up just now; I just got caught up in our argument. She notices my hesitation and smiles mockingly. "Yeah, I know about imprinting and all of its bullshit love magic because unlike Seth, I paid attention when our parents told us the old stories. So, what? Are you going to blame running off with Emily on the imprint?" She's in my face now, her eyes are squinted and her words come out slow, deadly, and quiet. Nevertheless, her dark brown eyes capture mine just like they did all those other times in this clearing. "My own cousin, Sam; the one person other than you who I really felt close to. She was like a sister to me. Do you know what it was like to watch you two holding hands and laughing and hugging all around town? Watching you smile ear to ear, knowing that just months before I was the only person in this world who could make you do that. Now it seems as if that's the most natural expression in the world for you."

"Do you think I asked for this?" In spite of my inner promises to stay calm, I can't hold back any longer. There is just so much I want to say to her but can't because like everything else that I have to deal with now, it's on my shoulders alone and I have to be strong. "I _never_ wanted to leave you, Leah. You were IT for me! Once you graduated high school I was prepared to start my life with you. I was saving for an engagement ring, drawing up plans to fix up my house so it would be ready for us and our growing family. I knew where I was going to propose, what day, time and how I was going to ask you. I even talked to your dad about —" Her angry voice abruptly cuts me off.

"STOP! Just stop." I didn't realize that in the midst of my stroll down memory lane she had walked far away from me and was now pacing back and forth, her hands running roughly through her hair — something she always does when she's stressed or nervous. "I don't need to hear about what could have been between us because I'm done. You're with my cousin now and unlike you two, I would never hurt a member of my family like that." She stops pacing and looks me dead in the eye.

The cold glare and resolute expression are back on her face; she's made up her mind about something and I can tell it's taking every ounce of her self control to follow through with whatever decision she's made. She's wearing the same expression she did when she first found out about me and Emily and told me she had never loved me to begin with.

"Look, apparently I don't exactly have a choice in this whole pack business so I'll be the good wolf and do what's asked of me," she continues with that same dead glare. "I'll follow your orders, put up with your shit, and pretend like I don't hate you and Emily more than I can express. I'll 'patrol', or whatever it is you call it, and I'll look after the rest of the guys as if they were Seth but as soon as I learn to stop phasing completely, I'm out. After everything you've put me through I think the least you can do is allow me that."

She stares determinately at me and all I can do is give her a quick nod before she turns on her heel and storms out of the trees toward home.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN:** So sorry for the delay but I really hope you enjoy the chapter! Thank you to everyone who has added me and/or my story to their favorites list and/or has reviewed. It always means so much :) Please be sure to let me know what you think with a review!

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><p><strong>Paul POV<strong>

It's been a week since the disaster at the homecoming dance and Seth hasn't seen a glimpse of my sister, let alone been to my house. After he lunged at her I told Sam that if he wanted to keep the youngest pack member alive, he wouldn't allow him to see Anastasia until he got his temper and phasing under control. I know it's killing Seth to not see her, but he understands and hasn't fought against it too much. In fact, other than Wednesday night when I caught him trying to sneak over while I was on patrol, he's been pretty good about following orders.

But today is Saturday, which means that while Jared and Sam train Leah on different fighting techniques and just the overall rundown on how this whole wolf thing works, Jake and I are on Seth babysitting duty. Normally I don't mind hanging out with Seth but I need to stop by my house and I don't want him to get his hopes up that he'll be able to see Anastasia.

Ever since the dance she has been the single most constant thought in his mind. It's killing him to know that he almost hurt her and even though he can't apologize for that because she doesn't know about us, he still wants to see her to at least apologize for making her miss the dance. Although I'm sure the fact that she hasn't stopped calling him to see if he's okay doesn't help keep her out of his mind. And even though he doesn't know it, he's been on her mind a lot lately too. It wasn't easy convincing her about what "happened" that night. We told her that she fell and hit her head when she backed away from Seth because he turned and almost threw up on her. I managed to make it seem like it was her fault for wearing such high heels to a simple high school dance that caused her to fall. She even apologized for yelling at me and the rest of the guys in the parking lot because I said we were trying to get a hold of Seth's mom to tell her about what was happening and that's why we weren't there to help him.

Damn, I am such an asshole.

"Dude are you sure you want to take him to your house? I can take him to mine and you can meet us there," Jake whispers next to me after a quick glance to Seth.

"I would say yes but Sam said he wanted two of us with Leah and Seth at all times for at least another week just to be safe," I whisper back. "And with how cranky he's been lately, I'd really prefer not to get on his bad side."

Sam has always been a little wound up and I'm sure a lot of it has to do with how much he takes on; most of the time not even by choice. Besides being our alpha and putting up with all of our shit, he's also technically the tribal leader. And trust me, the elders aren't always the most pleasant people to deal with. The guys and I usually try to be good and not give him too much of a daily headache but now that Leah Clearwater is in the pack, things have gotten a little crazy. Human-Leah was bad enough with her constant anger and overall bitchy attitude to anyone who wasn't her parents or Seth, but wolf-Leah is on a completely different level. She doesn't give a shit that Sam took double patrol duty every day last week so that some of us (including her) could study for midterms or that Emily feeds us, clothes us and puts up with our shit even though she doesn't really have to. Nope, if Leah is in a bad mood then so is everyone else because all she cares about right now is letting Sam know how much damage he did to her when he broke up with her for Emily. When she's a wolf and we're sharing a mind, if she's not complaining about patrolling then she's whining about being the only girl in the pack.

Pff, it's not like we asked her to join.

"Besides," I continue whispering to Jake, "Sam is training Leah today on fighting and after spending all day in her mind as a wolf, he's going to be super pissy. I don't know about you but I don't feel like getting double or night patrols just because Leah's a giant pain in the ass."

I glance behind us at a forlorn-looking Seth. Normally I would be pissed that he's dragging ass and kicking rocks along the way while I'm trying to get somewhere but for the sake of my sister I keep my mouth shut. Poor guy hasn't been his happy-go-lucky self since last Saturday. Quil gave us all the rundown on Seth's talk with Sam and he said it didn't go so well. We all kind of guessed that out of any of us (minus Leah for obvious reasons), Seth would take the phasing and responsibilities the hardest. Not because he isn't one to work hard but because he doesn't have anyone he's really close to in the pack that he can talk things out with. Granted Leah is in the pack but she's got her own shit to deal with and hasn't even thought twice to see how her little brother is handling everything. Quil, Embry, Jake, and I were all best friends before we phased and joining the pack together was the best possible outcome any of us could have ever anticipated. Jared was already close with Sam so it took almost no time for the six of us to become a really tight unit. But it's different with Seth. His closest friends are my sister, and Collin Littlesea and Brady Fuller, two little twerps in his grade. And now he can't hangout with any of them. And when he does, there will always be a giant secret hanging between them.

"My only concern is that he's going to get excited when he sees we're going to my house," I continue as I turn away from Seth. "I don't want him to think he's getting permission to see my sister just because he's allowed to come over today. I mean, she said she has plans with Sierra all day so she won't be home anyway but still."

We finally get to the front gate of my house and I look back again to see if he's finally figured out where we're going. When we left Sam's house a few minutes ago he just blindly followed after us because he knew he had to. In the few minutes walk it took us to get here he hasn't said a word. But when I open the gate to our front yard his head pops up as if the sound of my old, creaky gate was calling his name. I watch as he slowly moves his eyes from my hand on the gate latch, to the front door, to a window on the second floor where he knows Anastasia's room is located. Too bad the window he's actually looking at is mine.

I stop him before he takes a single step toward where he most wants to be at the moment.

"Hold it right there Clearwater." I hold up my hand and grab him by the shoulder, effectively stopping him mid step. "There are a few things we need to get straight first before we go inside. One, that window you're looking at so longingly is mine. So stop because it's creepy. Two, just because we're at my house right now does not give you permission to start coming over again before you've learned control. And three, Anastasia isn't even here so don't get your hopes up."

He unwillingly tears his eyes away from the upstairs window and nods his head slowly in understanding.

"Good. Now, let's go inside, grab some lunch, I'll change, and we'll go do some more training in the clearing by the high school. Sound good?" Seth nods his head again before Jake clamps his hands on his shoulders from behind and steers him into the house.

"All right Clearwater, go sit over there on the couch with Jake and don't move," I order as I jog up the stairs to my bedroom.

I reach the second floor and take a peek in Anastasia's room to double check that she's not home before going into mine to change into some old clothes that won't piss off my parents if they get ruined. I get back into the living room just as Jake emerges from my kitchen with a giant sandwich in one hand and an unopened bag of chips in the other.

"Dude I swear to God if that is the last of the turkey I am going to kick your ass." The heartless bastard just smiles and licks his sandwich so I won't steal it from him and eat it myself. Not wanting to get blood all over my mom's carpet and receive the parent beating of a lifetime, I punch my fist through his sandwich and shove past him, muttering "dick" as I look in the refrigerator for something else to eat. Damn, I had my heart set on the last of that turkey too.

"Hey Seth you want anything to eat?" I yell into the living room. "We haven't eaten in two hours so I know you've gotta be hungry."

Silence.

"Seth?" I pop my head up from inside the refrigerator and glance in the direction of the living room. A moment ago all I heard were the loud crunching sounds of Jake scarfing down his lunch and now the room has gone eerily quiet.

Something's not right, I can feel it.

"Sweets, you might want to get in here!" Jake calls. "Right now!"

I spring to the living room and it's like the breath has been knocked out of me as I watch Anastasia, standing at the bottom of the steps, and Seth, standing by the couch, staring at each other. Only Seth isn't staring like he would at a normal person: his mouth is slightly open and he has kind of a dazed, stupid look on his face. He gives a short chuckle of disbelief and the left side of his mouth turns up into a crooked smile.

The son of a bitch just imprinted on my sister.

"Motherfucker!" I scream. I jump forward, grab Seth by the collar and literally drag him outside to the forest where we can phase and I can fairly kick his ass.

"Stay here Anastasia," I snarl on my way out.

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><p><strong>Seth POV<strong>

I knew it. I knew there was more to my wanting to see Stacy than just wanting to apologize about what happened at the dance. And when she walked down the stairs today it finally all made sense: she's my imprint, my other half.

It's a damn shame Paul is going to murder me before I get the chance to tell her everything.

We make it through the woods behind his house and he continues on until we're completely out of sight and sound from his house, assumedly so he can murder me without anyone seeing or hearing anything. He throws me against a tree and a resounding '_CRACK'_ echoes through the woods; the sound is sharp and hard like a gunshot and I can only pray it's from the force of my body hitting the tree and not my body itself.

"How dare you imprint on my sister!" Paul roars at me.

"No, please, Paul it wasn't my fault!" I plead, backing away from him. I can hear Jake calling our names from nearby, the heavy pounding of his footsteps on the forest floor mixing with the blood rushing in my ears as he rushes to catch up with us. For my safety I have to keep Paul calm until Jake arrives because even as a wolf I'd still get my butt handed to me by Paul. If anyone can calm him down it'll be Jake. "You know imprinting is uncontrollable! There was nothing I could do!"

"You will tell her nothing! Do you understand me you son of a bitch? NOTHING!" I watch in slight horror as Paul clenches his fists in an effort to calm himself, but it's useless: the loud popping of his bones indicates he's already changing on the inside. "She is my sister and this is my decision. I don't give a flying fuck if she is your imprint. Am I making myself clear?"

The shape of his body finally begins to blur and he's almost indistinguishable before he erupts into a large silver horse-sized wolf. He begins to stalk over to me, his teeth bared and snapping as if I were his prey instead of his pack brother.

"Seth, phase. Run to Sam's!" Jake calls just before he bursts into his own form.

He crashes into Paul midair and catches him from the side, knocking him off his path and giving me a chance to phase and head through the deep woods in the direction of Sam's house. I halt for a second and stare at the two of them as they rip and tear at each other in two large fur balls of brown and silver. A loud 'yelp' from Jake breaks me from my reverie and I remember why they're fighting in the first place. I phase into my own form and head toward Sam's house. I know he's with Jared today teaching Leah different fighting techniques so I'm not surprised to find Sam and Jared immediately in my mind. Their concerned voices penetrate amid Paul's yelling, snarls, and vulgar name-calling.

'_Seth what happened?'_ Jared asks as he and Sam take off through the woods behind Sam's backyard. I can see the direction they're going and I head toward them so they'll be able to head off Paul quicker.

I remember how Sam said to communicate with the rest of the pack so I allow my mind to think back to when we first arrived at Paul's house. I show them me sitting on the couch with Jake, looking amazed at the way he barely takes a breath as he eats his lunch; how I turned my attention to the stairs when I heard my name being called to see Stacy standing there looking at me curiously; and how when I looked into her eyes everything I've been feeling lately just fell into place like the finishing piece of a very confusing puzzle.

'_Holy shit!'_ Jared laughs, _'Seth you imprinted on Stacy? Oh the irony is thick on this one and I love it!'_

'_You better get to him before I do Sam!'_ I can hear Paul thundering behind me and see through his mind as Jake continuously crashes him through trees, no doubt hoping it'll slow him down and give me enough chance to reach Sam and Jared. But Paul's too angry to be stopped by silly things like 20 foot trees; the only thing it does is result in thick chunks of bark flying in Paul's haste to murder me violently and Jake's haste to stop him.

A few 'yelp's sound from behind me and I automatically turn around. Paul seems to have finally given Jake the slip because instead of charging at Paul, Jake is crumpled against a tree. He gets up slowly but instead of running to catch up to me he gives off a small whimper and I can feel through his thoughts that he's hurt. He makes to move forward but his weight is too much for his right side — I think he's broken his right shoulder blade.

I howl loudly for my pack brother and make to retreat so I can help him out when a low, guttural growl sounds to my left and it's not until that instant that I remember why I had been running through the forest in the first place: I imprinted on Stacy.

'_Seem to have forgotten that little tidbit of information, have you?'_ Paul continues his slow creep toward me and again I'm reminded of a hunter stalking his prey. _'Well let me refresh your memory on a few points: you will not go near my sister and you will not tell her a damn thing about what we are. Now is that clear or do I need to make it a little more painfully obvious?'_

I involuntarily let out one long, pain-filled howl and cower at the base of the nearest tree. I haven't even been imprinted to Stacy an hour and already the idea of being forced away from her is too agonizing to imagine. I look up again to see Paul towering over me, his body at its fullest and most menacing height. His thick silver fur is on its end and his teeth are bared to reveal their sharpest and most deadly points. I know I too am a wolf and have the same fear-inducing traits but I still can't help but be frightened by Paul. I never thought in a million years that the guy I always looked up to as a friend would inflict so much cowering in me.

Paul snaps his jaws in my face as if to prove that the friendly Paul I know is no longer how he is to be regarded by me. He brings up his front paw and whacks me hard across my snout, sending my face to meet dirt from the force. I spit out a clump of dirt, mud, and leaves. The growl comes out before I can stop it and I snap at his paw as it rises to strike me again. I can feel the fur on my back rising in angry defiance of his actions; the wolf instinct deep inside all of us has finally surfaced in me.

'_Why you little bastard!'_ Paul growls. _'I can take you as a human, what makes you think you're a match for me as a wolf?'_

'_Because I'm Stacy's imprint and if you hurt me, you hurt her. And let's be honest Paul, you'd never do anything to hurt her.'_ I have no idea where that came from but I know it's true. Paul may not have his own imprint, but like an imprint, he'd never do anything to purposely hurt Stacy and hurting me would do just that.

I have him and he knows it. He stops dead in his tracks and I can literally hear his thoughts as he weights what it'll do to his sister if he really hurts me. Thankfully he's too distracted by his racing thoughts to realize that Sam, Jared and a fully healed Jake are right next to him.

'_Phase back Paul,'_ Jake orders.

I didn't get it at first but all the guys explained that Sam (as the pack alpha) and Jake (as the second in command and technically the real alpha) have the power and authority to give us commands that we have no choice but to obey. It's the weirdest feeling when a wolf tries to fight whatever command has been given; it's like we physically can't disobey it, almost as if there's a wall or plug preventing us from doing or saying what we want. And even though Paul knows what a command feels like and how completely futile it is to go against it, he tries anyway: His body crumples to the ground amid loud whimpers and even more cursing from his thoughts. He crashes to the forest floor with a heavy thump, his fur becoming matted with mud and leaves as he squirms on the floor in a vain attempt to stay in his wolf form. Nevertheless his internal voice slowly fades from the pack mind and his bones begin to crack as little by little his human body reappears. The silver fur recedes, placed by shortly cropped black hair and russet-colored skin. His dark angry eyes find me from the floor and if it weren't for the fact that he's naked, I'd think I was still looking at angry wolf Paul.

"Seth phase back; there's a lot to discuss and I want to be able to hear it all," Sam says.

I jump at the sound of his voice. Jake was right: it is pretty disconcerting to go from hearing Sam's thoughts to his actual voice without any warning.

"Here guys, put these clothes on," Jake says, tossing the four of us a combination of sweats and basketball shorts. I shoot him a look, wondering where he got these clothes. "I hobbled my ass back to Sweets' house after I rammed into that tree. Thank God I did too otherwise I would've had to pop my shoulder back in myself but Mrs. Chehalis helped me out. Oh and I gave her a brief rundown of what happened this afternoon which was a good thing because Stacy had already got to her and man was Leila pissed."

"All right Paul," Sam begins with a heavy sigh, his arms crossed over his chest, "before I give you the worst patrol schedule I can think of, out with it. What part of your demented brain ever gave you the bright idea that it was okay to attack a pack brother? When have I EVER allowed infighting? ANSWER ME!"

He's completely yelling by the end of his speech and all of us (including Quil and Embry, who've just arrived) instinctively flinch as if being burned. But Sam acts like he didn't notice and continues to burn a hole through Paul's head with a deadly glare.

"That little prick imprinted on my sister!" Paul yells, pointing a shaking finger in my direction. I can tell that if it wasn't for Jake's command he would be a big ball of fur again. Hell if Jake hadn't ordered him, Paul probably never would have phased back to begin with.

"Do you know what this means?" Paul continues. "I have worked so hard to keep all of this from her, to protect her from something so much more terrifying than anything in a scary movie. Now that Seth has imprinted she'll be sucked into this world full of wolves and bloodthirsty vampires that revel in killing people. I have kept her away from all of this — from what we truly are — because I want to protect her. If she doesn't know anything about us then she'll never fall prey to these sick, unnatural bastards. Sam, you have to understand that keeping her in the dark is the only way I know how to protect her. Please Sam."

His pleading eyes probe Sam's and I think all of us finally come to the real reason why Paul nearly killed me: he's scared. I can't even be mad at him for attacking me and from the sad look on Sam's face, neither can he. It's a little hard for me to fully understand Paul's refusal to let Stacy in on the pack secret (mostly because my sister is a pack member with the rest of us), but I do understand his strong desire to protect his sister from anything he deems dangerous because even though she's older and acts tough as nails, I can't even count the number of times I held Leah as she cried over Sam. The main thing I do remember is wanting to crush him until he was dust for the damage he'd done to her.

Sam finally drops his arms from their stiff position crossed over his chest, sighs, and puts his head down as if he's hoping the ground will give him the right words to say in a situation like this. I can't imagine a pack member has ever tried to stop a fellow pack brother's imprint before. I can't help but inwardly chuckle: Paul's actions are like the wolf form of cock blocking.

Man I'm glad no one can read my thoughts while not in wolf form.

"Look Paul," Sam begins wearily, "I can see where you're coming from when it comes to a situation as sensitive as ours. While I don't have a sister, I do understand how cautious we must all be when it comes to those we let in our pack circle because being associated with us can run a risk from our own actions as well as from those we hunt. I admire the love you have for your family and I greatly respect the personal sacrifices you have made to your relationship with your sister in order to protect her. However, there are some bonds that run deeper than an alpha command and that is the connection a wolf has with their imprint. I cannot prevent Seth from telling Stacy everything about what we are, what we do, or what we hunt. The alpha command just doesn't work like that; you know this Paul, you've felt through mine and Jared's minds how connected we are to Emily and Kim, how strong the pull is. I'm sorry Paul, but it's time to come clean to your sister. About everything."

The silence in the woods is thick and extremely heavy following Sam's decision; even the birds and insects seem to be waiting in quiet hesitation for Paul's reaction. But instead of lashing out like I expected, he plops down on the muddy floor and puts his head in his hands in defeat and acceptance.

I look to the rest of the guys for some kind of guidance on what to do and catch a quick exchange of money from Embry to Quil and Jared. I learned very quickly that all the guys (except Sam) bet on pretty much everything (Paul won 10 bucks from Embry because he guessed I'd phase by the end of October) so I look questioningly at Quil, wondering what on earth they could have bet on this time.

"Jared and I had money that you would imprint on Stacy," he whispers so low that Paul can't hear.

"All right," says Paul gravely as if he's being led to his death, "but I want to be there when he tells her. She's going to have a lot of questions for me as well and Seth won't be able to answer them all."

Sam nods his head in agreement. "That's a good idea, Paul. I'll be there too just in case you need me. We'll do it tonight. Paul, Embry, and Quil, I want you guys to run patrol until 7 p.m. and then Jake and Jared will take over. Paul will join you guys when we're done talking to his sister. Jake how's your shoulder? Are you good to run tonight?" —Jake gives him a quick nod. — "Good. Seth, go home and prepare for the most terrifying conversation of your life then meet us back at Paul's house promptly at seven. I'm going to go talk to William and Leila."

Everyone breaks off into his separate direction except for me and Paul. I need to talk to him and I can tell he wants the same thing.

"You first," he says once everyone has left our impromptu meeting-slash-Save Seth's Life event.

I take a moment to gather my thoughts. It's hard to say "I'm sorry" when you're not sorry for your actions but for the trouble and anguish they have caused. It's even harder when said actions are a part of a mystical wolf force of which you have no control over but that date back to the oldest of your ancestors. I take a deep sigh. I think this is one of those life moments where nothing you can say will make the situation better so I'm just going to wing it and inwardly pray the pack doesn't have to save me twice in one day.

"Look, I know that Stacy being imprinted on is one of the last things you wanted or even imagined would ever happen and I'm sorry that it's a result of me imprinting that will bring all of your hard work to protect her and shield her from this creepy alternate universe to an end. But I'm not sorry I imprinted on her because you have to know that if any guy is going to treat her with the respect and care she deserves, it's me. The imprinting just gives me a leg up on any other guy who might have the same ideas. I don't blame you for being angry with me. If anything I only respect you more because of it. I've always looked up to you. You, Jake, Quil, and even Embry, have always been great to me and I just really don't want this to get in the way of that because right now — with Leah dealing with her own problems, this whole new world I'm suddenly completely immersed in, and now the imprinting thing — sometimes I feel like you guys are all I have. I know you guys don't necessarily feel the same about me and that's cool but there you have it."

I finish lamely and awkwardly and have nothing else to do but stand here and twiddle my thumbs like an idiot. I have no idea where any of that came from. Not that it's not true, I just never expected it to come pouring out of my mouth like a broken faucet. Crap, all the guys are going to give me hell for that speech when Paul inevitably tells them. I'm already depressed thinking about the torture Embry especially is going to put me through. I glance a look at Paul to see his reaction to my small speech to see him looking at me very seriously and as though a light bulb has just clicked in his head.

He nods his head slowly and rubs his left hand over his face as though to wipe away something and when he pulls away the anger from his eyes is gone. I just hope this new look isn't his premeditated murder face.

"You're right, Seth: you, or anyone really, imprinting on my sister is something I didn't want for her. But you're also right that if there is any guy who will respect her and care for her the way she deserves it's you. The way I reacted to everything was really fucked up and I'm sorry. I never in a million years imagined that I would attack one of my pack brothers." He puts his hand in the pocket of his sweatpants, hunches his shoulders and rubs the back of his neck in a show of shamefulness. "If anything at least I know that should anything happen to me or her other brothers, you'll be there to protect her."

"Always," I reflexively respond.

"Good. But I do have one favor to ask from you. I know I can't stop you from telling her everything about us or interfere in your relationship, but there is one thing regarding imprinting that I do request from you." He stops the pacing I hadn't even realized he'd begun and stares at me imploringly.

"Sure, what's the favor?" My stomach twists in knots as the crazy possibilities of what this favor could be runs through my mind.

"Move through the stages of your relationship with each other slowly," he says seriously. "I know the pull's strong — I see it with and through Sam and Jared — but you guys are both still really young. Hangout, watch movies, go to the beach, whatever, but don't put the pressure on each other to be in a crazy serious relationship. You have the rest of each other's lives to be together so what's the rush? Can you do that for me? Can you hangout as kids first before trying to move into something more serious?"

The topic of his favor catches me off guard. In truth I hadn't even thought about getting as serious with Stacy like Kim and Jared are together. I like her, definitely, but I'm also 14; I'm not ready to be engaged status yet. The most serious I can really get right now is pizza and video games at my house (in the living room because my mom doesn't allow girls in my room). And from the look on Paul's face he seems to know this about me too. I nod my head in understanding and agreement anyway.

"Good. And again Seth I am really sorry about earlier. I hope _you_ don't let any of what happened today get in the way of _our_ friendship. You're a good guy Clearwater and me and the rest of the guys will always have your back."

He claps me on the arm and turns to leave so he can phase and patrol but abruptly stops part way behind a tree with an evil grin on his face.

"Oh and I hope you're prepared for the shit storm that's going to hit tonight, Clearwater," Paul says, barely disguising the laughter from his voice, "because Anastasia is going to kill us all when she finds out we've been lying to her. I don't know if you've ever been on her bad side but let's just say the scars she gives don't fade. See you tonight Clearwater!"

He runs deeper into the trees. A second later a loud howl disrupts the quiet woods as Paul joins patrol duty with Quil and Embry. I begin the long trek out of the woods so I can relax at home for a little bit. I should probably let my mom, dad and sister know that I imprinted too. I can't imagine Leah's going to be very excited by the news since the topic of imprinting is such an understandably sore subject for her. At least Mom will be excited: she loves Stacy. Speaking of which, I hope I didn't avoid death by one Chehalis only to be murdered by the other one tonight.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN:** It's here — the chapter where Stacy finally finds out EVERYTHING! It's been a long time coming for sure. I'm not one to beg for reviews but please, _please_ let me know what you think of this chapter. I hope I did it justice. And, of course, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story overall. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the chapter and (as always) thanks for reading! :)

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><p><strong>Anastasia POV<strong>

Unbelievable. Un-freaking-believable. I cannot even believe Paul is acting like this. What right does he have to drag Seth out of the house by the back of his shirt like that and then _command_ me to stay home? If I weren't so damn scared of being attacked by those wolves that've been spotted in the woods I would've chased after him, Seth and Jake. As it is, I know the wolves hang around the trees behind my house because I've seen them before. Normally I'd be worried out of my mind for the three of them but I'm too angry to care.

I throw another pillow across my room at my bedroom door to release some anger. It isn't until a loud 'crack' breaks the silence of my house that I remember I stuffed my remote control in my pillowcase last night in a strange sleepy action. It's a good thing my parents aren't home; they'd be furious if they knew I was throwing things at the doors or walls. Or maybe having them home would be a good thing because then I can tell them what Paul did. Oooh, Mom is going to be so pissed at Paul when she finds out how rude he was. Not to mention I'm positive the only reason he dragged Seth to the woods was so he could use him as a punching bag without getting caught. Hopefully Jake had enough balls to stop him; he's usually the only one with brains in that group.

I just don't understand what would make Paul act like that, and to Seth of all people! Seth — the one who hasn't talked to me in a week and then randomly shows up at my house with my brothers. And then he doesn't even bother to let me know he's here! If I hadn't been in the bathroom and heard sounds in Paul's room (and the unmistakable loud chewing of Jake), and gone downstairs to say 'Hi', I never would've known he was here. What a jerk! Comes to my house and doesn't say 'Hi'…. Who does that? Oooh, him and Paul are both going to be getting an earful now.

I let out a loud frustrated yell and slam my closet door shut as a means to let it all out. I guess I can just think of that as practice until I can get my hands on my darling brother and that jerk Seth.

"Hey, don't be slamming doors in my house young lady or you'll have no doors to slam." I spin around from my position facing the closet doors to see my mom standing in my doorway, her hands on her hips and a half angry, half curious look on her face. I hope that means I'm only slightly in trouble.

"Sorry Mom," I grumble, flopping back on my bed and staring unfocused at the ceiling.

"So is there a reason you're slamming doors?" She sits on the corner of the bed to my left and it dips under her weight. "Or should I just assume your brother did something to get you mad?"

"Why is he always such a jerk? Ugh, he pisses me off so much!" I pound my fist against my bed. The realization that I'm acting exactly like my brother doesn't make me any happier.

"Your brother is not a jerk," my mom says sternly. "And I'll have you know that you're not always a burst of rainbows and sunshine to deal with either. So, what happened? Why are you so mad at him this time? And no name calling either."

"Fine." I sit up and turn to face my mom. How the hell am I going to do this without calling him a name? I glance at my mom and the look on her face tells me I'd better try. "I was in the bathroom earlier today when I heard voices downstairs and sounds in Paul's room. So when I get out of the bathroom I go downstairs to see Jake and Seth sitting on the couch. Seth, Mom! He hasn't talked to me in a freaking week and then he has the nerve to show up at my house and not even tell me! So then I'm just standing at the bottom of the stairs staring at him because I can't believe he's there — oh and do you now what he says to me? Nothing. He says absolutely nothing; he just stares at me like he's never seen me before so I know he was hoping he could get in and out of the house without even telling me he was here. And he's supposed to be _my_ friend so why would he be hanging out with Paul and Jake? So anyway, he's just standing there staring at me and I can hear Paul yelling something from the kitchen about lunch, when Jake tells Paul that he should come into the living room. Well when he gets to the living room he takes one look at Seth, staring at me, and one look at me, staring at Seth, grabs him by the back of his shirt and literally drags Seth out the back of the house and to the woods. Then on his way out, Paul — very rudely I might add — orders me to stay here. Then Jake came over and gave me this odd one-arm hug-slash-pat on the shoulder thing followed by a shrug and an awkward chuckle before running out the back door after them. And since I'm too scared a wolf's going to eat me I kind of had no choice but to stay home and wait for him. But oh man, Mom, when your son gets home he is going to be getting an earful. It's going to be World War III at the Chehalis Residence tonight so heads up. Ugh, I hate boys.

"Oh and he called Seth a motherfucker!"

"He did what?" Mom yells angrily, jumping off the bed in her surprise. Although I'm not sure why she's so shocked: It's not the first time any of us have heard him curse like that before. Even so, it really is uncanny how similar Mom's and Paul's tempers are.

"Yup," I nod. "He took one look at Seth and I staring at each other, called Seth a mother-effer and grabbed him."

I flop back down dramatically and with a heavy sigh.

"Hmmm … well I don't know why Paul acted like that but I'll talk to him when he gets home; especially for using that kind of language. Sometimes I don't know what is going through that boy's head." She sighs heavily but softly in a way only a frustrated parent can do and begins lightly stroking my hair. "And as for Seth, honey, I think you should give him the benefit of the doubt. He looks up to your brother and his friends and right now he needs some older guy friends to talk to. Being a teenage boy is no easier than being a teenage girl."

"So then why doesn't he just talk to his dad, Harry? And regardless of him looking up to Paul, it still doesn't explain why he was here without telling me! You can't ignore me for a week, then show up to my house to hangout with my brother and expect me not to get mad."

I look straight into my mom's dark brown eyes, expecting a look of utter agreement. Instead it looks more like pity and shame and, oddly, guilt.

"Well, I can't say for certain, but I get the feeling Seth isn't as close to Harry as, maybe, you and I are. Nevertheless, I know there are things you tell Sierra that you don't tell me and that's okay. Sometimes it's just easier to tell things to a friend than a family member and I think that's where Seth is at right now. He's dealing with some things at the moment and instead of being angry with him, give him time to work through whatever he needs to work through and continue to be his best friend when he comes back around. I'm sure you'll be back to hanging out like normal by next week."

She smiles motherly at me; probably convinced she's eased all my worries away when all she's done is increase them by a hundred. What the hell could Seth be "working through"?

"Mom, what do you know? Why do you make it seem like he's going through some crazy life-altering change?" I flip over on my stomach to look her in the eyes, knowing that's the best way to catch my mom in a lie.

"I don't know anything sweetheart," she says, looking right back at me. But she won't keep her eyes locked on mine; she shifts from my eyes, to my forehead, to my nose, to my eyes and back again. "I'll talk to your brother when he gets home but for now I want you to try to calm down; read a book or something. I'll call you down when dinner's ready."

She gives me one last small smile before closing my door and leaving me to my thoughts.

Mom might be right about Seth but the fact that she won't tell me what's going on just exchanges my anger for worry. The only comfort is that whatever he's trying to sort through is clearly not life threatening because I'm positive she would have let me in on that bit of information. That would just be too big a deal to keep from me. Paul, on the other hand, is still in the doghouse for being an ass and manhandling my friends. And I don't even want to think about what I'm sure happened in the woods. I can only hope Jake was able to stop Paul from really hurting Seth. It really is unlike him to be physically violent with anyone other than his friends. In fact, other than Sean Cowley and a few other creepy guys this year, Paul doesn't usually get into fights; which is a good thing since he's so physically big and strong. I can only imagine the damage he could do to a person. It just doesn't make sense why he would get so angry with Seth like that for no reason. He brought him over so obviously Paul doesn't care that Seth has been avoiding me for a week. And this whole time I felt sorry for Seth because I thought he was battling some kind of horrible stomach flu. That's the last time I ever offer to bring him soup and orange juice.

I turn on my iPod to the most cliché teenage angst song I can find and bury myself under my blankets, hoping a nap will dispel some of this annoyance, frustration, and anger I can feel rolling off me in waves.

I wake up a few hours later to silence in my room and the moon shining brightly on my face from the open window blinds. I roll on my back, listening to the sounds of crickets chirping loudly in my backyard and voices muttering downstairs. From the low rumblings it sounds like there are quite a few people in the house other than just my immediate family. Normally I would assume it's Paul's friends (since they eat here for almost every meal anyway) but the deep timber of one voice throws me off. It's definitely not my dad or Paul but it sounds oddly familiar. Quick, light footsteps hasten up the stairs and stop at my door; I quickly flip on my side and feign sleeping, unsure if I feel like joining my family for dinner. If it's my mom I'm pretty sure she'll just let me sleep and save me a plate for later.

"Stacy, wake up," my mom says clearly from the foot of my bed. "I know you're faking it so get up and come downstairs; there's some things we need to talk about as a family. Come on, get up."

"Ugh, fine," I moan, angry that I got caught. How is it that she always knows when I'm faking sleeping?

I literally roll myself out of bed and grab an old sweatshirt hanging off the back of my desk chair before following my mom downstairs to the living room. Where Seth is sitting on my couch. And Sam Uley is sitting stiffly upright in a kitchen chair in between Paul (looking strangely uncomfortable in his own house) and Seth. I quickly glance between my dad in the recliner and my mom, who has taken the opposite end of the couch from Seth, next to my dad. Both avoid my look by glancing in opposite directions. Okay, now I'm just frightened.

"Um, what is going on?" I ask no one in particular and instead offer the question to anyone in the room willing to answer me. To my surprise, Sam's deep baritone voice is the one that speaks first.

"Stacy, why don't you take a seat," he gestures to the middle of the couch between my mom and Seth. I don't now what it is about Sam but something in his presence and manner of speaking just shouts 'authority' and 'respect.' The only other person I have ever sensed this from is Jake; which is just ridiculous because he's just a 16-year-old high school sophomore.

"Is everything all right?" I ask cautiously. Again I toss out the question to anyone in the room who will answer me. "Is everyone okay?"

"I promise you Stacy that everyone is fine, no one is hurt," Sam answers (again), smiling gently. "There is just something that your family — particularly Paul — and Seth need to tell you. What they are about to say is extremely important and it can never be repeated to anyone. Do you understand?" — I nod quickly, my palms clammy from my nerves — "Good. Now, it's going to be a lot of information to take in but just stay calm and wait until they've told you everything before you ask questions. I promise it will all make sense."

Sam turns to his left and his tone changes as he speaks to Paul. Gone is the gentle, understanding tone but the sense of respect and authority I gleamed from him a moment ago shine brighter and stronger.

"Paul," he says with a nod of his head, "I think it's only right if you start. She deserves to hear it from you first."

Paul closes his eyes and takes a deep and long drawing breath before looking at me for the first time since I came down.

"Before I say anything, I just want you to know that I didn't tell you sooner because I wanted to protect you and, for many reasons, I thought keeping you in the dark was the best way to do that."

"Just tell me already!" I burst out in frustration. I feel a sharp pinch on my right side and turn to see my parents glaring at me. "Sorry. Please continue."

"Right. Well do you remember a few months ago when I left the house for a few days and returned with Sam, Billy, and Old Quil?" Paul looks at me nervously and my heart starts pounding hard in my chest. This is it, I know it; they're all finally going to tell me what happened that week. But it doesn't explain why Seth is here…. I nod my head anyway, remembering what Sam said about saving my questions until after they're done telling me everything.

"Okay, good. Now do you remember the old legends we learned in school? About Taha Aki and how we're descendants of wolves and that some members of the tribe can transform into wolves to protect our land and families?" — I nod quickly again but am even more confused than ever. — "Well it's true. All of it."

I can feel everyone's eyes on me, all waiting for some kind of reaction. But how do you react to something that is so obviously the lamest prank ever?

"Yeah, okay, whatever you say Paul," I say sarcastically. My time would so be better spent sleeping right now. "Look, great prank, everyone. You obviously gave it your all but I'm going to go back to my room."

"Sit down," my dad orders in a slow, angry tone. "You will listen to what the three of them" — he points to Sam, Paul, and Seth — "have to say. This is extremely hard for your brother and the least you can do is sit and listen."

Stunned by my dad's outburst, I slowly lower myself back on the couch.

"Anastasia, I wouldn't lie to you about this." Paul stares resolutely in my eyes and I can see the absolute seriousness on his face, begging me to believe him. But it just doesn't make sense….

"I can prove it. If we all go out to the woods I'll phase and you can see it all with your own eyes. I'll even call over Jake so you can see him too."

Everyone jumps up before I can respond; I'm pulled up by a firm grip on my arm and led out the back door, across the backyard and into the dark cover of the woods. The hand pulling my arm stops abruptly and I nearly collide with my mom; Paul and Sam continue walking another 50 feet before turning to face the four of us.

"Stacy, please stand in front of your parents so you can see," Sam says, beckoning me forward. "And don't move until I tell you."

I nod feebly, still in a somewhat state of shock. What the hell is going on?

Then Paul starts doing that weird shaking thing again: It starts in his hands but instead of balling them into fists like usual, he lets the shaking continue. My mouth drops open and I watch, transfixed, as the shaking spreads to the rest of his body and he blurs around the edges of his frame. Then comes the cracking and popping sounds that always sends me back to that night in the living room. Even from my careful distance away I can hear his heavy breathing coming out faster and faster. In the blink of an eye my 16-year-old brother bursts out of his body and lands on four paws on the soft forest floor next to Sam. As a giant, horse-sized wolf. Silver fur and all.

"HOLY FUCK!" I scream, running behind my parents, whom I notice didn't even flinch or appear to be shocked at all. "What the fuck is going on? What the hell just happened? Why is my brother a giant animal?"

Then from out of the trees comes another wolf. This one is bigger than Paul (God, I can't believe I just said that!), and is a light brown color with thick paws and happy (does that even make sense?), brown eyes. It stops on the other side of Paul and turns to face me with its teeth bared. But I don't feel scared because it looks more like it's smiling at me than trying to formulate a plan of attack. Then it hits me.

"Jake?" I ask incredulously.

It wags its tail and moves its head in what I assume is a nod.

I look helplessly to Sam, begging him for some answer or explanation as to how all of this is even remotely possible. I mean, people don't just phase into giant wolves. It's just not possible. Science would have figured out how to do that by now. It would be all over the news.

My mind spins with my thoughts and I feel my legs give out from under me, causing me to flop to the ground hard and not very gracefully. With my head in my hands, I begin rocking back and forth, muttering "no, no, no" over and over like a mantra.

Leaves crunch in front of me and I can feel my mom's hands on my shoulder, almost as if she's trying to coax me with her touch to look at her. But I won't.

"Honey?" my mom asks softly, her voice low as if she's nervous and talking to someone who might burst at any moment. Which I might.

I continue my rocking and mantra, holding onto it like it's a life preserver. I feel like I'm drowning and those three repeated little words are all that's keeping me afloat.

"Give her a minute, Leila," Dad says, pulling Mom away from me. "Let her process this. It's not every day you find out your brothers are wolves."

He chuckles and the shift in his mood abruptly stops my rocking and chanting because Dad said "brothers." As in plural.

"Brothers? Brothers!" I jump up quickly, causing everyone to step back in alarm. I round on my dad. "Embry and Quil too?"

He nods gravely, wincing at my sharp tone.

"Where are they?" I yell at wolf Paul. Can he even understand me? "I want to see them. Now!"

Paul turns his head to Sam as if asking permission; he gives a small nod and Paul turns his head to the sky, howling at the moon. He does it again and again, each one louder and longer than the one before. I squint my eyes and strain my ears, looking and listening for any signs of them in the trees behind Sam, Paul, and Jake. For a moment I don't think they're coming, then something nudges me from behind, almost knocking me to the ground.

I catch my balance and spin on the spot to see two large wolves approaching from the direction of our backyard. Both are a little smaller than Jake and Paul. The dark brown one makes eye contact with me and rubs its soft fur against my shoulder as it passes, causing me to shudder. I follow it as it takes its place next to Jake. Then I remember there are two and turn around to find myself face to face with a black snout, dark brown eyes, and a full set of bared teeth. My breath catches in my throat, my eyes open so wide I'm sure I look like a cartoon character, and I momentarily forget to breathe. Its large pink tongue hangs lazily out of its mouth, wet with saliva. For a minute the wolf looks like it's going to lick me until Sam calls it over to join the rest of them.

"That's enough, Embry," Sam says with a tone indicating he says it a lot to Embry; which, knowing Embry, he probably does. "I'm pretty sure Stacy won't enjoy getting slobbered on."

Embry jogs past me, brushing me with his tail on the way.

"So then the dark brown one must be Quil?" I ask Sam even though I'm looking at what I assume is wolf Quil.

"Yes," he answers. "Jared is also a member of the pack but he is out running patrol right now."

"What do you mean 'running patrol'?" I ask, taking my eyes off the wolves for the first time and looking at Sam. "Patrolling for what?"

But instead of answering me, Sam turns to the four wolves. Again I get a strong sense of authority from him in the way he talks to Paul and the rest of them.

"Jake, finish patrolling with Jared. The rest of you phase back and meet us in the house; we'll finish the rest of the conversation in there."

Out of the corner of my eyes I see something fly out of Seth's hands and land on the floor in front of Paul. That's when I realize Seth hasn't reacted to this information at all. In fact, he hasn't said a single word all night. Why is he even here anyway? Unless …

I gasp and face Seth, horrorstruck.

"You too?" My voice comes out barely above a whisper but I'm pretty sure everyone heard me. He shuts his eyes and swallows hard as if trying to stop his answer from coming out. Then he gives a slight, almost imperceptible, nod of his head and looks at me apologetically.

It's the first time I've looked into his eyes since this afternoon. In all my earlier anger I somehow failed to notice the warm feeling in my chest and the strong tug of my body to be near him. I don't know how I hadn't registered the feelings earlier today but now it feels as though they've always been there, almost as if something has always been pulling me to him. Which, considering the way I've been feeling toward him the past month or so, is entirely possible.

A small, throat-clearing cough breaks me from my thoughts; Paul, Embry, and Quil are emerging from behind a set of trees. Lost in my feelings and thoughts about Seth, I had missed them turning back into humans.

"Jake, go finish patrol," Sam says, noticing he is still present.

Jake turns to head into the trees but stops before even getting ten feet. He catches my eye and whimpers, letting his head droop in what I assume is sadness. He lets out one long howl and sprints off in the dark cover of the trees. I continue staring at the spot long after he's gone, thinking. I have a hundred million questions running through my mind, each of them making me angrier and angrier.

My brothers are wolves and have assumedly been so for at least the past seven months. Seth is a wolf too. Sam knows a lot about this so it's safe to toss him under the fur ball category as well. Mom and Dad obviously knew and probably have since the beginning. Why didn't they tell me? Why lie to me? Why are they telling me now? What changed their minds? All of the sneaking around, leaving the house late at night — way past curfew — and coming home at odd hours — it all has to do with this wolf stuff. Am I the only one on the reservation that doesn't know? Did Seth phase at the dance? Is that why Kim pulled me away? Does she know everything? WHY DID THEY LIE TO ME?

I'm pushed gently into the recliner in the living room, completely unaware that we had left the forest to begin with.

"Anastasia?" Paul asks nervously.

My head snaps up and my eyes meet his. I have never been angrier or felt more betrayed in my life. I open my mouth to let him — to let them all — have it but he cuts me off before the first word is out of my mouth.

"Just let me finish and then I'll answer any question you have," Paul promises.

I give him the smallest of nods, not breaking eye contact or wiping the furious look off my face. In proof to the seriousness of the situation, I notice this is one of the very few times that Embry isn't smiling but instead looking very grave and solemn.

Paul takes a deep breath and by the way he steadies himself I can tell there's a lot more he has left to say.

"Yes, Seth is a wolf also. There are eight of us in the pack: me, Jake, Embry, Quil, Jared, Seth, Leah Clearwater, and Sam, who is our alpha and, as a result, the tribal leader. As I'm sure you remember, the legend of Taha Aki says that certain members of the tribe could transform into wolves to protect the people from Cold Ones, meaning vampires."

"What?" I blurt out without thinking. "Vampires? As in Dracula? Or that Wesley Snipes movie?"

A humorless chuckle sounds from my left on the couch; Embry is sitting there looking at me with what looks like pity in his eyes.

"Not exactly, Stace," he says. Even though he's smiling, I can't find a single trace of humor on his face or in his eyes. "These vampires aren't like the ones you read about in an Anne Rice book or see in a scary movie. The sun can't kill them, garlic and holy water have no effect on them, and they don't sleep in coffins. Real vampires are extremely strong and fast, have red eyes, look physically attractive to the average human, and they don't have fangs. In fact, you've met three of them." — Again with the humorless chuckle. — "Yup, while you and Sierra were dress shopping in Port Angeles a few weeks ago. You met three guys who said they were brothers and they almost started a fight with Jake and Paul."

"Jasper Hale, and Emmett and Edward Cullen." It comes out as more of a murmur and I say it more to myself than anyone else. I remember the three of them very clearly, even now. All three were extremely good looking and Paul was dangerously furious that they were talking to Sierra and me.

"You almost phased right in the middle of downtown that day, huh?" I ask Paul, remembering how his hands shook until he started balling them in fists. He nods his head slowly as if recalling that day causes him pain. But Jasper, Emmett, and Edward had ample opportunity to grab Sierra and me and drink our blood but they didn't. And they had gold-colored eyes.

"But those three looked nothing like how you just described vampires." I address Embry because he seems to be the only one capable of speaking right now. "They didn't even have red eyes or attempt to drink our blood or kill us."

"Yeah, well the Cullens are a little different," Embry says, clearly confused by the Cullens and whatever their differences are. "They live just outside of Forks and they call themselves 'vegetarians' because they don't drink the blood of humans, only animals. A vampire's eyes turn red when they feed on a human; the Cullens only drink and kill animals so their eyes stay a more golden color. There are seven of them and they consider themselves to be a family. There's Carlisle, who works at the Forks hospital, and his wife, Esme; and then all the 'kids': Emmett and his wife Rosalie; Jasper and his wife Alice; and Edward, who is dating Billy's friend's daughter, Bella Swan. All the kids attend Forks High School as juniors and seniors.

"The Cullens have all been practicing this vegetarian thing for a while so human blood isn't particularly appealing to them. Or if it is then they are at least practiced enough at avoiding it that they can resist. This doesn't mean they're not dangerous though, it just means that we recognize they aren't like normal, sadistic vampires. That's why we don't kill them like we do the others that cross our path. Jake's great-grandfather made a treaty with their leader, Carlisle: They don't attack or turn a human, or come on our land and we don't kill them."

"But you guys still don't like them?" I ask Embry. "Even though they don't harm humans?"

"That's another discussion for another day," Quil says quickly before Embry or Paul can answer.

"He's right," Sam agrees from beside my parents, "continue Paul."

"Right. So that's why we exist — to hunt vampires. And we're good at what we do. In order to be able to fight them, we all went through some changes just before we phased for the first time, which I know you noticed. It's a little different for Leah because she's a girl, but the seven of us guys grew at least six inches in height — Jake almost a foot — and we gained some muscle without needing to work out. Our body temperatures now naturally run at 108 degrees, we heal incredibly fast, our hearing is extremely sensitive, we're stronger and faster than normal humans and" — Paul pauses in his list of their supernatural abilities and looks at Sam, who smiles encouragingly — "for as long as we continue phasing, we remain at the physical age of approximately 25. That's why we all look a lot older than we really are: we no longer age."

"Are you even human?" I ask before I can stop myself. I realize the question is rude but my brother just told me he and his friends no longer age. What else am I supposed to think? But for the first time all night, Paul is genuinely smiling; they all are.

"Oh, I'm sorry if my question amuses you all," I snap. "But since you've all been LYING to me for the past seven months it's going to take me a little bit to learn what questions are intelligent enough to ask."

The smiles wipe quickly from all of their faces. Good. It's ridiculous that they all think they can laugh at any question I ask when I've been out of the loop for so long.

"So is there anything else you all want to clue me in on?" My voice is a lot rougher than I expected but I'm too angry to care that I'm essentially yelling at my parents. They lied to me about the biggest family-related event to ever happen, they deserve my yelling and furious glares. "What changed that you can now tell me all this?"

"Stacy, have you ever heard of imprinting?" Sam asks. I shake my head no. "Well, the most common form of imprinting occurs in ducks when the baby duck imprints on its mother and it forms a kind of bond. Wolves are similar in that when — or if — we imprint, a special — unbreakable — bond is created. The wolf will be whatever their imprint needs: friend, brother, protector, lover, whatever. Depending on the ages of the wolf and its imprint, the relationship will go through different stages. But no matter what, the wolf is forever connected to their imprint and they become the wolf's reason for existing, for hunting, and for fighting. No matter what, the two will be connected, even if they choose to just be friends or like siblings. Often an imprint or wolf can feel when the other is near or hurt either by an ache in their chest, a tug in the center of their stomach, or just a general feeling that can't be explained. You know what that feels like because you've experienced at least one of those things, haven't you, Stacy?"

Everyone's eyes shoot to my face as though they're looking for something, not in an accusatory sense but more a confirmation of what Sam just said.

"How do you know that?" He just stares at me, waiting for me to work it out myself. But for all of his infinite knowledge he apparently can't work out that I don't currently have the patience for games. "Who imprinted on me?"

"I did."

The voice is soft and low, like the speaker doesn't really want to be heard. It takes me a moment to realize the voice belongs to Seth.

"Today, when you came downstairs. Just before Paul dragged me out of the house."

"So this means what exactly?" I ask, looking around to the whole room.

"It means whatever you want it to mean." Seth continues in the same soft and low voice and I have to stare directly at him to understand his words. He, on the other hand, keeps his head down and his eyes resolutely focused on our living room carpet as if it's the most fascinating thing he's ever seen. "We can remain best friends if that's what you want. I'm happy to be whatever you want me to be as long as I'm in your life. But no matter what you choose, from this moment on you mean more to me than anything or anyone and I wouldn't have it any other way. I will go to any length to protect you, to make you smile, and to just make sure that you're happy. But I've also really liked you for a while. Even before I imprinted on you I planned on asking —"

"What about what I want? Has anybody ever taken my feelings into consideration?"

I cut him off. Protect me? All of this started with wanting to protect me, as if I have no say in anything, particularly my own safety. I'm sick of it.

"I didn't mean that we have to date. I mean — I mean o-o-only if you want to," Seth says, stumbling over his words in a fit of nerves.

I don't bother responding to him; caring about Seth's feelings is the least of my worries at the moment.

"So why the sudden change? Why am I all of a sudden allowed to know the big secret?" Everyone looks away from me and to Paul. "What? Did I recently do something that proved I'm trustworthy?"

I just sit and stare at my brother because everyone else is. Apparently he's the key to this question.

"It's up to every individual pack member to decide if they want to let their family members know what we are and what we do. I decided not to tell you — or allow any of the pack to tell you — because I thought that was the best idea at the time. I didn't want to frighten you with all the gory details and I was scared of how you might react. Mainly I was afraid that if you knew, it would put you at risk of a vampire coming after you. So I talked to Mom and Dad and the rest of the pack and we all agreed to keep it quiet. But when Seth imprinted on you today the decision was no longer mine to make. Like Sam said, a wolf's bond with its imprint is extremely strong and no one could stop Seth from telling you everything."

"So all I heard was 'I decided' and 'we agreed.' Did you ever think to talk to me? To include me — as a member of your family — in a family secret?" I'm on the edge of my seat and can feel the heat spreading all over my face but I don't care. I glance back and forth between my dumbstruck parents and my guilty-looking brother, Paul.

"Stacy, it wasn't like that," Embry says gently, breaking the distance between the couch and the recliner to rest his hand on mine. "You're misunderstanding the situation. After we all turned for the first time, things were crazy. We are the first pack to form since Jake's great-grandfather's pack and we didn't know what to expect, what kind of danger our families could be in. When it was clear there was no immediate danger then the decision was about not wanting to worry or scare you with the knowledge of what we do. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we just did what we thought was best. I know for a fact that every decision Paul made was with you in mind."

I snatch my hand away, disgusted with myself for thinking we were a really close family with no big secrets.

"Don't touch me," I snarl, jumping up from my seat and rounding on my parents. "All you ever talk about is the importance of family, and how if you can't trust your family then you can't trust anyone. Or how we're all so close and we tell each other everything. But you forgot something didn't you? Didn't you!"

A part of me is surprised I am able to yell at my parents like this but the other part of me — the truly hurt part — is too broken to put the significance of it before my own emotions.

"Stacy, sweetheart," my mom begins, tears streaking down her cheeks. I turn away from her, telling myself that I don't care that I'm the result of those tears.

Instead I set my sights on my three brothers; all (I'm happy to see) look abashed.

"And you three!" I yell. "You're my brothers! Some of the most important people in my life and I've always looked up to all of you, Jake included. I would have done anything for you and I trusted you all and you've been lying to me! A monumental, life-changing event happened to four of the people I love most in the world and you all walked around like I was too fragile to know. Everyone has been in on it but me. Do you have any idea what it's like to feel so betrayed by the people you love and trust?"

Hot, angry tears stream down my cheeks but my voice is still strong. I just don't know how I can get it through their heads how hurt I am. If it hadn't been for Seth imprinting on me today, I feel pretty confident that they never would have told me. I never thought that what they have been hiding from me for the past seven months was something as big as this. I knew there was something going on between my parents and my brother but the worst I had imagined was that Paul had gotten into some kind of trouble and that was why the elders had come to our house. But to hide something that affects not only Paul, but also the rest of my brothers, for the rest of their lives is more heartbreaking than I think I can ever fully explain through words or express through actions.

I take a deep calming breath; I need this to come out clear and I need my voice to be as steady as possible.

"You all lied to my face for months. You let me worry that something was wrong with the guys when I felt how hot they were and then got mad at me when I asked questions. And I just ate up all the lies and stories because I was convinced my family wouldn't lie to me. 'No,' I thought, 'my family is really close and my brother Paul and I — well we tell each other everything and always have.' But this" — I make a motion indicating everyone in the room — "this is not my family. I don't know who you strangers are but I want _nothing_ to do with a group of people whom I don't trust."

I leave the living room, letting them sit there with his or her thoughts about my small speech. I'm halfway up the stairs when I hear my parents trying to keep Paul from coming after me ("Just give her time") so I sprint the rest of the way and slam my bedroom door. A minute later the backdoor slams and a wolf howls outside my window; I walk over to see Paul (silver fur and all) staring up at me. I shut my blinds, turn my back on him, and cry.


	19. Chapter 19

**AN:** Sorry for such a long wait. I just moved and started a new job so I've been extremely busy. No excuse, but there you have it. Anywhoo, thank you all for your reviews/story/author adds. They mean so much. And especially thank you to everyone who has stayed with me still (don't worry, it's not done yet!) Let me know what you think! :)

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><p><strong>Embry POV<strong>

Before these past few weeks, it would have been impossible to imagine a time that Paul's family would be so divided. But ever since they filled Stacy in on the big pack secret, the tension at their house has been thick. Stacy is so furious with her entire family — including Jake, Quil, and me — that she won't talk to any of us unless it involves saying, "move" or "out of my way." I heard at one point she tried avoiding family meals but apparently Leila put her foot down on that one. So now, she's just sitting here, poking at her food and not talking to anyone until she gets the okay to leave the table and hide back in her room.

According to Sweets, it's really starting to tear at their mom and now that I'm sitting right next to her at the dinner table, I can see the strain and worry carved deeply around her eyes. It's clearly starting to take a toll on her. I glance around the table, at the downtrodden faces of those that mean the most to me, and catch Jake's eye, who nods his head solemnly, as if he can read my thoughts. The soft clinking of silverware against plates is the only sound cutting through the silence. I can't take it anymore. This is not like the Chehalises and it's killing me to know that (however indirectly), I am at least partly responsible for why Stacy feels as though she can't trust any of us.

"So, uh, Stace, how you like having Wilkes for English? Has she made you guys start writing in-class essays every day yet?" I smile at her encouragingly, trying in vain to fight through her death stare and ignore all of the eyes on me.

When she first started ignoring everyone, we all gave her a wide berth; figuring she just needed time to figure out her feelings and work through her anger, no one has really tried engaging her in normal conversation for at least a week and a half. She puts on a good front during the day by going about her usual routine of school, homework and hanging out with Sierra, but at night she lets her true feelings show.

From the very beginning of this whole wolf thing, whoever is on patrol has made it their duty to swing by the houses of everyone's families and imprints. Usually it's just a quick patrol through the perimeter of the house, making sure we don't smell, see, or hear anything that shouldn't be there. Thankfully we've never encountered anything and at the very least, we get good stories about people talking in their dreams. It was especially worthwhile (at least for Jake, Jared, and me) when Stacy would dream about Quil. But lately, on our rounds through the houses, we've all heard Stacy up late at night, crying her eyes out into her pillow or dreaming about all of us and talking about how sad she is; that because we didn't let her in on the secret she doesn't feel as though she's a part of the family. I've wanted to approach her about it numerous times but I've never been able to come up with the right words to say. I'm not exactly known to be especially vocal about anything that doesn't involve a dirty joke or some crude comment; being emotional about how much a person or persons means to me is much more Quil's area of expertise. So anytime I'd try cornering her into talking to me, I'd freeze up at the last minute and just let her brush past me. I can't exactly blame her for being so angry with all of us because keeping such a huge secret like we did is just as bad as lying to her in the first place. Which we also did. I mean, all of us — William, Leila, Quil, Jake, Jared, Sam, Emily, even Kim — have been telling Paul from day one that he needs to tell her, and not just because it would make it all easier on the rest of us so we didn't have to keep coming up with stupid lies. It's not as easy as some people make it look to come up with a believable story right off the top of your head. But for him, we tried.

"Why are you talking to me?" she asks in the snottiest tone I have ever heard her use. For a minute I'm taken aback, not used to hearing her talk that way to me — or to anyone really.

"What do you mean?" Instead of mentioning that her tone makes me want to cringe in disgust, I figure carrying on like everything is normal is the best way to get her into a conversation. Even if it is one that has her rolling her eyes at my voice. "Why would I not talk to you? It's family dinner, we always talk during family dinner."

"There's just one problem, Embry," she says my name as if it has a bad taste in her mouth, "we're not a family."

"Anastasia Marie!" Leila scolds. "Do not talk to your brother like that. We are a family, whether or not you like it at the moment, and I will not sit here and listen to you talk to a member of the family like that. Your father and I raised you better than that."

"Fine, then I'll leave." She drops her silverware roughly on the plate, leaving a loud, clinging vibrating throughout the room, throws her chair back and storms out the back door.

I immediately jump up to follow her.

"Embry, just leave her, man," Paul whispers, too low for anyone but our fellow wolf brothers to hear. I hesitate for a second and take a quick look at the table, knowing what I'm going to see before I even turn my head. The fact that I'm right — that Paul is sitting at the table but hasn't eaten a single bite of his food; that Leila's small, fragile body is slumped forward warily and her eyes are closed; and that William can do nothing but stare brokenhearted through the window at his daughter — cements my decision to follow her.

She's had enough time to mope and drag ass about this whole fucking situation. It's about time someone finally beat some sense into her. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

"Stace, get back here," I call from the doorway leading to the backyard, "let's talk about this. Stop acting like such a brat and get back in here before you freeze. It's too cold for you to be out here without a jacket."

"Leave me the hell alone, Embry!" she yells with her back facing me.

"No, I will not leave you alone," I counter, beginning to walk toward her. Behind me silverware clangs loudly against plates and the scratching noise of chairs being pushed back fills the kitchen as the rest of the family crowds together at the door behind me. "You know, for someone who just bit our heads off a few weeks ago about not feeling like a part of the family, you're doing a hell of a great job looking like a complete hypocrite."

"What do you want from me?" Again she refuses to face me but her voice breaks on the last word. Nevertheless, she continues her aimless stare into the trees beyond. Her dark hair sways in the cold night air and, even though I can't see her face, I can just imagine the angry stare she would be giving me if we were facing each other.

"I just want to talk to you about all of this. I won't try to persuade you to do anything but it's best if we just get everything out in the open. I know you're angry and the talk a few weeks ago didn't exactly go as planned" – a loud snort from Paul and a "you got that right" from Jake distracts me for a moment. I turn around to glare at them before continuing. — "Trust me, Stace, you'll feel better if we all talk this out calmly. I'm sure you still have some questions you didn't get to ask the other night before you stormed from the room so dramatically."

"But how can I trust you? How can I trust any of you?" She yells while whirling around abruptly from her spot, angry tears shining in her dark eyes. For a moment I'm caught off guard; angry outbursts like this are much more Sweets's calling card. Then I remember that if this were Paul we'd be fighting as wolves, not talking it out like humans. "Trust, like respect, is earned, it's not given freely and as of right now, none of you have either of mine."

Maybe it's her sudden change in attitude, or the fact that a moment ago she said I wasn't family, or maybe it's Leila's quiet, barely stifled sob just discernible over the yelling and wind, but all of a sudden I'm angry too.

"What the fuck do you want me to say, Anastasia?" I yell. I've never yelled at her before – I've never had a reason to yell at her before – but it is so unbelievably important that she understands why we did what we did. And not just because I can't take Seth's and Paul's whining any longer. "That we won't ever lie to you again? That from here on out there won't be times that we keep secrets from you? Be mad at me all you want but you have no idea what I – what we all – would do to protect you. I understand that you're hurt and I don't blame you for feeling so betrayed but if you would just pull your head out of your ass and take one _fucking_ moment to put yourself in our shoes, maybe you'd see that what we did was because we were _scared_ and because Paul had to decide quickly. We're 16 years old, Anastasia! Teenagers for shit's sake, and making decisions about situations most adults will never have to encounter in their lives. And you want to bitch and moan about how hard your life is because your family hid something from you because they wanted to keep you carefree and happy? Boo-fucking-hoo! Do you _want_ my worries? Fine. You know what your brothers and I do every night? We patrol the reservation on four paws, always on high alert for anything – and I mean anything – that could harm not just our tribe but also you, your parents, our parents, and everyone we love. And you know what we do when we find a vampire? We fight them, Anastasia, and each time we take one of them on, there's a chance that one or all of us won't return home from that fight because each fight means that someone dies. We've been lucky that every time we've encountered a vampire we've won but don't think that for a damn second there isn't a chance that one of us could walk out of here tonight and die doing our job. That this could be the last time you talk to any or all of us. And you want to hold this grudge against us? All because we wanted to keep you from having to worry about this stuff? There are so many dangers out there that until a few weeks ago you thought just existed in a cheap Wesley Snipes movie."

"Embry, come on, man," Quil says quietly, briefly interrupting my rant. He puts his hand on my shoulder to calm me down but I shake him off.

"No, Quil, she needs to hear this. She wants to know why we never told her, well, there's why." I gesture wildly to Stacy whose mouth is open in unimaginable horror and her eyes wide. Whether it's because of everything I just told her or because I just yelled at her, I can't be sure. All I know at this point is that she needs to understand and get over her anger if any of us are ever going to be all right again. "So you want to know how you can trust us? Okay, let's count the small number of ways in which we have always been there for you: let's see, there's the time Paul scared the shit out of that kid that pushed you into a locker last year; that time when you were a little kid and Jake comforted you because you were scared of the dark; that day I risked expulsion and jail time for lifting a kid off the ground _by his fucking throat_ because he was bothering you; when Quil threw his body in front of a wolfed-out Seth to stop him from accidently hurting you. Oh and let's not forget the time Jared stopped Sean Cowley from retaliating against you for embarrassing him in front of the entire school." — Stacy's face drops and her eyes shoot behind me to the guys, asking through her expression if that's true. — "Oh, that's right, we never told you about that. Are you going to be mad at us about that too? What do you want from me? An apology? Fine. I'm sorry I ever went to such great lengths to make sure you're happy; I'm sorry I care about you enough to risk my life every goddamn night to ensure you can continue living yours; and I'm sorry you have four brothers and their friends who would go to the end of the Earth for you."

I stop for a second, needing a moment to gather my thoughts and calm myself down. Honestly, I'm surprised I was able to go this long without Paul or someone stepping in to stop me from talking to her like this. Maybe they didn't because they feel the same way.

I take one more deep breath, look Stacy straight in her eyes, and lower my voice to a soft, understanding tone.

"Look, Stacy, I understand why you're upset with us. We lied to you, yes, and we kept a lot of things from you, but for you to now think that you can't trust any of us — after all the things we do for you out of love and friendship — downright hurts me. The last thing we ever wanted was for you to have our worries and our stresses because they are great and, sometimes, they are terrifying. But no matter how angry you decide to be after tonight, I will continue to be your big, overly protective older brother who — even though they may not appear to be correct from your view — will still make whatever decision he has to if it means making sure you're happy and safe. There are probably still going to be some things to come that I can't tell you about but as long as Paul is okay with it, I promise to be as open and honest about things as I can be."

I continue looking into her eyes, mentally pleading with her to understand and help us all move on from the sadness of the past few weeks. Even if she doesn't forgive us, I meant what I said: no matter her decision, I will continue being her big brother and do whatever is necessary to keep her safe. She may not like it but there is no way in hell I am giving up my little sister — or any of my adoptive family members, both wolf and human — without one Earth-shattering fight.

I don't know how long we've been standing here. If could be seconds but goddamn if it doesn't feel like I've been here in this same position for the past four hours. It seems like days ago that I was walking up to Paul's house for dinner, bummed about the way things had been going lately but determined to give Stacy her space. But I refuse to move from in front of her because I want her to know that no matter what, I'm going to be here. That no matter what, we're all going to be here.

Finally she breaks eye contact with me, gives a small, almost imperceptible nod of her head, and strides forward into my waiting arms for the hug I've been dying to give her since I first heard Seth had imprinted on her. A sharp intake of breath cuts the silence of the air from somewhere closer to the house and I can just imagine Leila, standing at the back door with William's arms around her waist, crying silent tears of joy that her family is back together.

Stacy squeezes me as hard as she can and buries her head into my middle, wetting the front of my shirt with her tears.

"I love you, Emmy," she mumbles into my middle, using the nickname she gave me when she was little and couldn't say my name correctly.

"I love me too, Stace," I joke back. Like I said, I'm not real good at showing emotion but she's used to it by now so she just giggles softly in response. I don't need to say it: she knows.

And then we're enveloped in five pairs of arms as everyone else joins in on the group hug with Stacy and me in the middle. A soft kiss is placed on my cheek and I turn to my left to see Leila — Mom — looking up at me with her arms around us. I smile back at her and nod, understanding what she's trying to say with that one small action.

"All right, all right," I yell after a few moments, "I never got to finish my dinner so someone get me out of this hug and get me fed! And there better be dessert!"


	20. Chapter 20

**AN:** I'm back! Hopefully you are all still following Stacy's journey with her crazy brother Paul and his silly friends. A GIANT thank you to everyone that has stuck with this story even though I've been unable to post as regularly as I would like. It really does mean a lot to me to know that my story is being read and enjoyed. You all are the best :) Anywhoo, here is chapter 20. I really hope you enjoy it and - as always - let me know what you think!

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><p><strong>Stacy POV<strong>

"Come in," I call to whoever is knocking at my bedroom door.

After tonight's loud showdown with Embry in my backyard, I'd been giving the whole idea of my brothers being wolves a lot of thought. Well, honestly, it's been on my mind nonstop since they told me a few weeks ago but the way I think about it now is completely different. When I first heard, I was so pissed that I was the last to know that the fact that my brothers and their friends can turn into wolves to hunt vampires didn't really sink in. I mean, I got that they can and why, but at the same time I didn't. I was too concentrated on my anger toward them. But now that I've gotten past it all, it's starting to really hit me like a load of bricks.

Holy crap, my brothers and their friends change into giant wolves and hunt vampires.

My brothers are wolves. They grow fur and four paws. They don't need a full moon to change. They hunt vampires.

Oh dear God there are vampires!

My breathing accelerates as my bedroom door slowly creaks open. I think I'm about to have a panic attack. Or a heart attack. I can't breath and my left arm hurts. Yup, I'm definitely going to die of a heart attack. Is it normal to shake when you're dying of a heart attack?

"Stacy!" Jake snaps his fingers in front of my face and I snap out of my daze to see the rest of the guys crowded into my small bedroom. A hot, shooting pain stabs my left arm, causing me to wobble to the side. That's when I realize why I'm shaking and why my arm hurts: Embry has been poking me in the same spot probably since they walked in. Of course he'd think prodding me is the best way to get my attention.

"Ouch, Em!" I slap his hand away as his giant sausage finger approaches me again. "Cut it out. That shit hurts."

"Well you didn't move when we walked in the door. How else was I supposed to get your attention?" he shrugs, clearly believing there really was no other option.

I just roll my eyes; there's no point in answering. Taking that as a cue that I agree, he pushes me over on my bed and takes my previously occupied space, sprawling out comfortably on top of my (formerly) nicely made bed and leaving me nothing but the corner to sit on. I swear he has no idea how to truly be angry with someone. Not even two hours ago I was telling him he wasn't family and we were yelling at each other in the backyard, and now he's spread out comfortably on my bed like it was nothing. But that's also one of the things that I love most about Embry: he can be mad as hell and fighting with you one minute, and the next all is forgiven. He says it's a waste of energy to spend time being angry with people because you're doing more injury to yourself by being angry than you would by forgiving them. I've tried to have this same frame of mind but I'm much more stubborn. For the most part, once I'm mad at you, I'm going to stay mad. As was clearly evidenced by my weeks-long "dramatic" display of avoiding them all. I can't help it — I'm clearly my mother's daughter.

"What's up guys?" I scoot Embry's legs over in a useless attempt to have more room. These guys are all so big it's like no matter where I move him, Em still takes up the entire freaking bed. Ugh, I give up.

"Are you okay?" Paul asks, shoving Embry completely off my bed after seeing my struggle. The loud 'oomph' and the inevitable shaking of the entire house from his large body causes Dad to yell upstairs something about "roughhousing" and buying whatever we break. Pff, if the guys had to buy everything they broke they'd own most of this house and the garage. Plus some lockers and a few classrooms at school. And one or two other buildings around the reservation and Forks. "You looked like you were going to have a panic attack when we walked in."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I realize my voice sounds kind of far off so I try to clear it as quietly as I can, hoping they don't notice that I'm inwardly panicking. Then I remember they have advanced hearing and that they all probably heard it anyway. Damn, that's going to be hard to get used to. "I guess it's just that now that I'm no longer spending so much time being angry at everyone, it's really starting to hit me what you guys are and what you do."

"Yeah, it can be a lot to take in," Paul says, rubbing his hands through his hair and sitting down gently next to me. His attempts to take up as little space as possible on my non-wolf-regulation-sized bed are in vain, but appreciated nonetheless. I curl my legs under me to help him out a little. "But that's actually what we came up here to talk to you about. Now that you've had more time to get used to the idea, was there anything you wanted to ask us?"

I pause for a second and look around my room. There are so many things I don't know that it's hard to think of where to start. Then I catch a glimpse of my dress from the dance hanging in my closet.

"Tell me more about the Cullens. Embry said they don't drink human blood but you guys clearly still hate them. Why?" I ask sweetly, knowing — but not understanding — that the local vampire family is a sore subject with them all. I look up at Paul, trying not to convey my intense interest in them.

"They're unnatural, Anastasia. What they are isn't normal and it's against nature," Paul says definitively, as if that's the only explanation needed. Um, have him and his friends not looked in the mirror lately? Geez, talk about calling the kettle black.

"But technically you guys aren't normal either." A low growl erupts from one of the guys but I'm not sure which. I glance around at them all, my eyes wide. I've heard them growl before but for some reason, now that I know what they are, it seems a lot more menacing. Before I knew, I thought their growling was just some stupid teenage boy thing but now that I know they can morph into 10-foot tall beasts, it's a little frightening. Clearly I've touched some sort of nerve with that point. "I'm not trying to be rude or mean or anything, but you gotta admit that it's not exactly normal to be able to change into a wolf on command."

"You don't understand!" Paul exclaims. He jumps up abruptly from his position next to me on my bed and begins pacing a hole through my floor; which is quite a feat considering there's not much space as my room is not meant to hold four giant men-children. "The only reason the pack exists is because of them. We're descendants of wolves because Taha Aki could change into one to protect the tribe and he passed that gift down to his children. Everyone in the pack is somehow a descendant of him and carries the gene. But just because you have the gene doesn't mean you automatically become a wolf by a certain age. In the story of 'The Third Wife,' when Taha Aki's wife sacrifices herself to save the tribe and her husband, her sons are so upset by her death that they phase for the first time and kill the female vampire attacking the village. It came to be that a pack would only form — that certain boys would transform — only when vampires were near. The last pack to exist before ours was Jake's great-grandfather's, Ephraim Black, and it was he who made the treaty with the Cullens that states, among other things, that we will let them be so long as they don't bite a human or come on our land. So you see, the Cullens have lived in Forks before. But when they left, boys stopped phasing; vampires were no longer near the area so the tribe didn't need protecting. That's why Jake's grandfather and dad never phased. But when the Cullens came back to Forks a few years ago, it started the cycle all over again: first Sam, then Jared, me, Embry, Jake, Quil, and most recently, Seth and Leah. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be what we are; we'd be normal teenagers with normal problems."

"But just because they moved nearby doesn't necessarily mean you guys never would have changed," I point out. How did they not consider that? It seems pretty obvious to me. "Other vampires could have come through the area at some point and you still would have changed. Clearly they are trying to go against the grain by wanting peace with you guys and by drinking animal blood. Don't they deserve a little credit?"

"They're our natural enemies!" Jake blurts out loudly from where he's standing by the window. The rest of us whip our heads in his direction, caught off guard by his outburst because Jake never shouts about anything unless he's really excited about something. Like hen he's watching a baseball game or he's got a funny story about Embry to tell. But I have a feeling that now that I know about everything, I'm going to see a lot of different sides of all the guys.

Jake turns away from me and from his reflection on my window I can see he's closed his eyes. He lets out a loud blast of air, causing a small area of my window to fog up. "Look Anastasia, I don't expect you to understand; mostly because you're not out there with the rest of us. You don't see what we see; you've never experienced what we have. No matter what we tell you or how much we describe to you, you'll never be able to really get why we hate not just them, but all vampires."

Something tells me that, for Jake at least, the anger and disgust goes a lot deeper than what he's telling me. I decide to drop it, figuring the last thing my already overcrowded room needs is a giant wolf. Ugh, the things he would break just by phasing.

"Fine, fair enough. Are there any other things I shouldn't ask about?" I mainly direct this to Jake but it's Embry who responds.

"Let's just play it by ear," he chuckles.

"Now that you know, you can ask anything you want — you just might not like the answers you get," Paul warns me gently.

So either there is still things they can't tell me or there are some answers that are going to freak me out…. Well with the way things are going it's probably a mixture of both.

"Okay then," I say, scanning my brain for other questions I can ask. It's weird that a minute ago I had so many questions to ask them and now that they're here and willing to answer (or at least semi-willing to answer), I can't think of anything. "Um, what about some of your abilities. You guys said you have advanced hearing now. Exactly how advanced is it? Like can you hear into the next room or can you hear what's going on outside and down the street?"

At this Embry bursts out in loud laughter before I even get my question finished. "This is definitely one you're not going to like the answer to."

"Let's put it this way: remember at the end of summer when the four of us ran into you and Sierra at the beach? Remember how far away we were when you first saw us?" Jake asks. I nod my head slowly, not sure where he's going with this. They were on the other side of the beach, almost completely on the opposite side of the parking lot where it borders the trees. "At that point, we'd heard your entire conversation as clear as if we were sitting next to you two on the beach towel; we didn't even need to strain our ears to listen."

Oh God, I can't believe they heard that conversation. I turn my head anywhere but at my brother only to catch Quil looking at me with a smirk on his face. This is easily the most embarrassing moment of my life.

I can feel the blood rush to my face as the heat spreads, causing me to blush probably the reddest I ever have. Oh my God I must look like the most awkward tomato ever.

"Sweets told you there were some answers you weren't going to like," Embry laughs again.

Hoping to get the attention off me for a second, I jump on a different topic without thinking.

"Why do you call Paul 'Sweets' anyway?" I blurt out.

Something wet hits me in the back of my neck and I turn around just in time to catch the rest of Embry spitting out his drink in shock. He puts his drink down and stares around the room, a giant grin on his face. It's like Christmas just came early for him.

"Please let me tell it!" he begs. "Please, please, please!"

Now it's Paul's turn to change colors to a dark shade of red but I don't understand why.

Instead of responding to Embry's jumping up and down, waving his hand in the air like a little kid who knows the answer to a riddle, Jake and Quil stare at my brother, clearly waiting for him to give the okay. Geez, how bad is this story?

"It's only fair, Sweets," Quil says. "I mean we did overhear that beach conversation with Sierra. And a few other ones."

"What other ones?!" I yell. I spin wildly from Quil to Paul, hoping one of them will tell me. Oh my God if they overheard anymore Quil conversations I just might die of embarrassment. I know scientists have said it's not possible but I swear I will be the first known person to do it.

Paul throws his head back and speaks to the ceiling. "Fine, tell her."

"YES!" Embry yells. He jumps into the air and fist pumps to the ceiling. Whatever this story involves, I haven't seen Embry this excited and happy in weeks. Already I'm really glad I asked this question.

He clears his throat, takes a long dramatic pause and looks up at the ceiling, appearing to be staring into another world. Classic Embry: always so dramatic. "Like most stories set in the cloudy, rain-filled Pacific Northwest, it was a dark, stormy night outside. The wind was howling, the trees were swaying, and deep in the woods, wolves patrolled the reservation. I remember it clearly because it was also the night I ran past Lauren Sizeman's house and accidentally saw her changing —"

I roll my eyes. He would.

"That was no accident you perv!" Quil interjects. "You run past Lauren's house every night you're on patrol to watch her change."

"Ewww, Embry!" I toss a pillow at his face. "I knew you were a perv but a peeping tom too? You sick bastard!"

"Fuck it. I'm telling her!" Paul says, shooting Embry a withering glare before he can interrupt. "Nope, you lost your chance, Em. You're just going to turn this into some commentary about what color bra Lauren was wearing that night."

"It was blue, in case you were all wondering." A collection of loud sighs and flying objects direct themselves at Embry who, despite his supposed wolf reflexes, isn't quick enough to dodge it all.

"Shut up, Em," Paul says before turning his attention back to me. "Okay, look. What really happened is you and Sierra were hanging out here in your room one night talking about girly things and Jared and I were in my room bullshitting before our shift —"

"But that's way across the hall!" I interrupt. "And if we were talking about girly things then I'm sure my door was closed and we had music on."

"I know listen." He puts up his hands as if to ward off my attack; although with all this information being thrown at me lately, I'm much more likely to have a panic attack at this point. "So we were hanging out in separate rooms and, yes, both our doors were closed but we could still hear pretty much everything. Anyway, at one point my name came up and that caught both our attention so we stopped what we were doing and that's when we heard Sierra say that she wanted to, um, take a bottle of chocolate sauce and do something, uh, highly suggestive to me. I was so shocked and Jared found it so funny that we both couldn't stop thinking about it during our run and since we share one mind while in wolf form, the rest of the pack knew by the next morning."

I roughly rub my hands on my face in a pathetic attempt to scrub off the shock. "Oh God, are you serious? I know exactly what night you're talking about. Is that why you get really shy and embarrassed when Sierra's around now?"

Paul stands up straight and holds his head high. "I do not get shy and embarrassed when she's around. I just prefer to keep a low profile."

"Call it whatever you want, dear brother, but you do a lot of hiding and slouching when she's around. Or at least whenever she talks to you." I look him straight in the eyes, daring him to contradict me.

"It's true, Sweets," Embry says with his mouth full and a half eaten sandwich in his hand. Where the hell did he get that?! "It's pretty entertaining stuff, though."

"So sometimes I get a little uncomfortable around her but you would too if she was always saying dirty things about you," Paul argues. "The point is: we have great hearing. Any other questions?"

"So Sam Uley is, what? Your leader?" I ask.

"We prefer the term 'Alpha' but yes, essentially he is the leader of our pack," Paul says patiently. "What he says is law, no matter what."

"Wow," I say slowly, giving myself a few moments to wrap my head around the idea. Well, at least now I understand why I got that sense of authority and power from him the night I found out everything. "So he can make you guys do things? Like run in a circle or wash his car?"

"I guess you could think of it like that since it's the general idea but he'd never do that," Jake says, shaking his head. "The Alpha Command is used for pack things only like making us run night patrols even if we don't want to or making us go to school following a night patrol or forbidding us from telling others the pack secret. But he hardly ever Alpha Commands us to do anything; we listen to him regardless. I think the idea of him being able to completely control us with a simple command freaks him out."

My eyes pop open automatically, surprised by how nonchalant the guys are when talking about Sam and his ability to magically take away their free will. "But that's still really creepy," I blurt out. "I mean, to think that he could get mad one day and literally make you do anything he wanted is scary. Not even our parents can do that. That doesn't weird you guys out at all?"

Quil automatically shakes his head. "I've honestly never thought about it that way but if you really knew Sam, you'd know that was never a possibility. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we trust him and each other completely. We hunt and kill blood sucking vampires together; the thought of Sam making me wash his car is really not on my list of worries."

The rest of the guys laugh and nod their heads in agreement.

"Besides," Embry laughs, "Emily is pretty much Sam's alpha; there's no way she'd ever let him get away with anything like that."

"But I thought Emily is Sam's imprint?" I ask. How is it possible for an alpha to have an alpha? I thought alphas were the top. Great, now I'm just confused and my head already hurts from this information overload.

"She is but their relationship is so strong that Sam would do whatever Emily asked him to do," Jake explains. "The last thing in the world he would ever want to do is make her upset."

"Speaking of imprints," Quil begins slowly, "have you talked to Seth at all? Or at least thought about talking to him?"

All at once my headache got a whole lot worse and the design on my comforter got a whole lot more interesting.

"Stace?" Jake asks softly.

"No," I mumble to my bed.

"And why not?"

"I don't know." Honestly, it's because I'm nervous as hell. Even the thought of talking to Seth about this whole imprint business makes me want to vomit. It's nerve wracking enough to talk to your crush and find out he likes you too, but it's on a whole other level of scary to find out he is now entirely devoted to you for life. For life! I know it's what most girls want to hear from their crushes, but until they actually do, they have no idea what it feels like. I really like Seth and everything but for life? I'm only 15; that's just too much for me to think about right now. But I can't tell my brothers that. I mean, I know everyone knows I like Seth and all, but it's still awkward to talk to your brothers about boys. Especially since said boy is now in their wolf pack.

Yeah, that sounds ridiculous and stupid even to me.

"Yeah you do," Embry encourages, once again prodding me in the arm. "Come on, we're your brothers. You can tell us anything."

"I guess it's just weird, this whole imprint thing. You guys told me that Seth is now connected to me forever and it just feels like I have no choice in any of this. That because Seth imprinted on me I don't get to choose if I even want him in my life. What if I no longer want to see him? What if something happens and I end up hating him and the last thing I will ever want is to see him again?"

"Trust me, Stace, you actually hold all the cards here," Quil says, laughing softly. "Whatever kind of relationship you and Seth decide to form is up to you. If you decide you only want to be friends then that's fine. If you want to try to date and form that kind of relationship, then so be it. If you just want him to be a bodyguard and follow you around, making sure no one will ever mess with you, then just say the word. The point is, whatever you want is what Seth will do. And he will do it with a big smile on his face because he knows that whatever you choose is what's going to make you the happiest and that's all he really cares about. And if some freak occurrence in the world happens and you come to the conclusion that you actually hate Seth and never want to see his face again, then that's also an option available for you. That doesn't mean _he_ wont see _you_, but you'll at least never have to interact with him again." Quil pauses. "But let's be honest, the chance of you ever deciding Seth is not worth even your friendship will be the day Embry gets a respectable girlfriend."

"So then it's really Seth who gets the short end of the stick here?" I ask, feeling even more down. I may be uncertain about how I feel right now but the last thing I want is for Seth to feel like he's stuck with me. What girl ever wants to feel that?

"Not exactly," Jake says slowly. "Look, Seth has liked you — I think — since the moment you two met. I know it sounds weird, but I think you've always been 'The One' for him. Before he phased we all joked with Paul about the idea of a pre-phase imprint; meaning Seth had already imprinted on you in a sense. I think the fact that it actually happened was just adding cement to an already established structure. Whether you realized it or not, you two were going to end up together, freaky wolf magic or not."

Paul nods his head in agreement with Jake. "Before I say anything, I just need to make it clear that, as your older and _very_ protective brother, I hate this whole fucking idea of my little sister being imprinted on by anybody. I don't care that Seth is a good kid. I almost killed the little bastard after he imprinted on you a few weeks ago. And I probably would have come pretty close if Jake hadn't kept interfering. However, as Seth's pack brother, I see how much he genuinely cares for you and I can't hate it completely. Look, I get that it's weird, all of a sudden being completely tied to a person for life at such a young age but that also makes it pretty convenient: you guys being so young just means you have all the time in the world to decide what you want. Just because he's imprinted on you doesn't mean you have to start dating if that's not what you want. If the idea freaks you out so much then just be friends, hang out like normal; take some time to get used to the situation and see if you even want your friendship to change to something else. I am personally a big fan of you staying single. Besides, you're not the only one who's worried about what this means for you two."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Seth is just a 14-year-old kid. Yeah he likes you but he's not thinking about marriage or anything crazy like that right now," Paul explains. "He's still not even allowed to have girls in his room, much less jump into a crazy serious relationship with one. The farthest he's thought about getting with you is eating pizza, watching movies at his house, and, if he doesn't chicken out or if one of us doesn't step in, giving you a kiss at the door. His whining is starting to get out of hand and I'm losing control of my temper with him so, please, just talk to him."

"But what about Jared and Kim?" I point out. "They're only a few years older than us and they're practically married already."

"Don't judge your relationship with your imprint based off someone else's. What works for them doesn't work for Sam and Emily, and what works for Sam and Emily might not work for you guys," Jake argues. "Your relationship is your own and not a copy or a model based off someone else's. Just talk to him, okay? Be honest and you'll feel better about everything, I promise."

I nod my head vaguely, deep in thought. It's good to hear that Seth is just as nervous as I am about this whole imprinting thing. But my brothers are right — as much as it pains me to admit them being right about anything — I should talk to Seth and not compare us to any of the other couples.

"All right, I'll talk to him tomorrow after school. But I've completely ignored him for the past few weeks; do you think he'll be willing to meet me if I call him?"

"Trust me, there's nothing Seth wants more than to talk to you," Jared says from his slouched position in my doorway.

Damn wolf stealth. Seriously, a person that big should not be allowed to move so quickly or silently.

"Where did you come from?" I ask curiously. Seriously, he wasn't there one second and the next he was. I just don't get it. "Damn, I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to you guys being so sneaky."

"We've always been sneaky," Jared smirks, "it's just that now that you know about us, we let you see our sneakiness."

He pushes his body off the doorframe and comes over to sit on the beanbag chair I got for my eighth grade graduation. His large body plops down hard and for a second I'm convinced the thing is going to burst and my room is going to snow foam beads. I open my mouth to scold him until he reaches his long, muscled arms into the air, stretching as much as he can. His bare chest catches the sunlight, setting off his dark, naturally tanned skin and defined upper body. The words die on my lips.

Just because a teenage girl has seen the same group of guys shirtless before doesn't mean she ever really gets over the sight of a really good-looking guy — even ones she's known her whole life.

I realize Jared is with Kim and I'm Seth's imprint but it's not wrong to admire, right?

One of my school books flies across my field of vision; I shake my head to clear my thoughts.

"Put a shirt on, Jared," Paul growls. "You know the rules."

"Oops, sorry Sweets. I forgot," Jared says. He leans forward, pulls a shirt out of the back of his basketball shorts where it had been hanging, and puts it on.

Huh? What rules?

"Paul doesn't let us be shirtless in your room," Embry whispers in response to my confused expression. "He thinks the mere sight of our glorious bodies will get you pregnant."

"Thin ice, Embry," Paul threatens. Embry just winks at me in response, setting off a small set of giggles.

"Anyway," Jared continues, "I just came over to grab you guys. Quil and Em have patrol and Sam wants to talk to all of us before they start. He has Seth and Leah running rounds right now 'til we're done talking."

The guys immediately tense up, all the humor gone from their bodies. You would have thought Jared had just announced someone was in the hospital for as serious as they all became. Apparently Sam wanting to talk to the three of them isn't a good thing.

Jake is the first to speak. The setting sun casts his body largely in shadow, enhancing the ominous blanket that has already spread itself through my room. Nevertheless, Jake looks powerful and authoritative and for whatever reason, I can't escape the thought that I would follow his lead anywhere. "What's the problem? We haven't smelled anything weird lately and the Cullens haven't mentioned anything either."

"Not sure; he wouldn't say. I was just told to grab you guys and get us all back over there pronto," Jared says, standing up. "He sounded pretty urgent though so I think something's up. Emily was in the room so maybe that's why he didn't want to say. Either way I made Kim promise to stay in tonight once her shift ends just to be safe."

The rest of the guys nod their head in agreement, moving for the first time since Jared announced that Sam was calling a meeting.

"Are we good, Anastasia?" Paul asks before any of them take a step toward the door.

"Oh hey! You're talking to us again!" Jared exclaims, finally realizing that I'm hanging out with everyone in my room in — what was — a friendly atmosphere and not glaring daggers and muttering under my breath. "Glad to have you back."

Even though I was the one that refused to talk to any of them, I did miss them so it feels good to be back to normal with everyone. Well, as normal as I guess it's going to be now that my life seems to be a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

"Thanks Jared," I say, smiling widely at him. "And yeah, we're good. You guys be careful tonight."

"We always are. But Jared had a good idea: can you do us a favor and stay inside tonight as well? And make sure all the windows are locked," Jake says after locking my window and closing my blinds. Surely it doesn't mean I'm on tighter lockdown now just because I know about everything? He continues talking before I can ask him about the extra security measures. "I'm sure it's nothing but until we know what has Sam calling an emergency meeting I'd just feel better knowing you're safe inside. I'll tell Seth to come over here tomorrow after school."

I nod my head automatically. Jake isn't one to usually panic over things and tell me to stay inside (that's much more Paul's area), so I'm not sure I even want to know whatever is freaking him out enough to take these extra precautions. "Yeah, of course, I'll stay inside. No problem."

I hug each one of them tightly on their way out my room, remembering what Embry said about each night they patrol possibly being the last time I see one of them alive. I lock up the rest of the upstairs windows, knowing my parents will take care of the downstairs ones before flopping back onto my bed. I know the talk with Seth needs to happen and I know it needs to happen tomorrow, but that doesn't make it any easier to think about. Especially when I don't really know what I'm going to say. According to everyone, the decision is up to me whether or not him and I move forward or keep hanging out like friends.

A month ago I would have been over the moon about the possibility of calling Seth my boyfriend and now I just want to get sick whenever it pops into my head. I think it's because now I wouldn't just be his girlfriend but his imprint; something that has such a stronger feeling and meaning to it. Now that I know about imprinting, the term 'girlfriend' feels like a temporary thing while 'imprint' feels like someone threw away the key to a door where I'm standing on one side and every other boy I could ever possibly be interested in is standing on the other side. I'm not some boy-crazed girl who wants to date and kiss hundreds of guys but to only ever kiss one boy in my entire life? That just doesn't seem fair.

I'm not ready for that; I'm not ready to give up any kind of relationship I could potentially have with someone else. I just hope Seth isn't too upset when I tell him.


End file.
